[AUM049] - CD in 4-panel digipak // getting down to very last copies!
Eri Yamamoto: piano, composer
David Ambrosio: bass
Ikuo Takeuchi: drums
Eri Yamamoto's growth as a jazz player and composer over the decade prior to making this album [and Duologue, recorded the previous month] is truly remarkable. A classically trained piano prodigy from Kyoto, Japan, she moved to NYC in the mid-90s following a revelatory jazz listening experience, and has devoted herself to the music ever since. On Redwoods, with her deeply sympathetic trio of longtime compatriots, bassist David Ambrosio and drummer Ikuo Takeuchi, Eri’s distinctly invigorating approach to the jazz piano trio and remarkable gift for indelible melodies reached another track-for-track high.
4-Stars: "Yamamoto and her cohorts seem to instinctively know the value of understatement. There isn't a surplus note here and that fact makes for a compelling program of music. The best tribute of all however, is the fact that this is piano trio music for people for whom that line-up usually means insufficient dynamic variation. Whilst this group works a quiet, perhaps unassuming musical seam, it does it with a sufficient grasp of variation and color to hold the attention and draw the listener in at the expense of the cares of the world. Since when has that been a bad thing?" –Nic Jones, All About Jazz
4.5-Stars: "Every time she plays, Japanese pianist Eri Yamamoto seeks to paint an aural picture. Redwoods, Yamamoto's fifth release with her long standing trio (though the first on AUM), constitutes an inviting and engaging gallery." –John Sharpe, All About Jazz
4 Stars: "After some 13 years living in NYC after moving from Kyoto, Japan, acoustic pianist Eri Yamamoto's contemporary jazz style has not only come of age, but has fully blossomed, flowered, and is as beautiful as any mature rose. This trio recording shows Yamamoto's fluid melodic elements, sprawling vistas of color, and her innate common sense in stringing together lines of passion." –Michael G. Nastos, All Music
1. This Is An Apple - 06:02
2. Wonder Land - 04:14
3. Bumpy Trail - 07:19
4. Redwoods - 09:11
5. Bottled Water Princess - 06:06
6. Magnolia - 06:19
7. Story Teller - 05:11
8. Dear Friends - 04:03
All compositions by Eri Yamamoto, © Jane Street Music (ASCAP)
Produced by Eri Yamamoto and Steven Joerg
Recorded by Michael Marciano at Systems Two Studio
Brooklyn, NY on February 18, 2008
Cover artwork by Leo Yamamoto
Liner notes/song annotation by Eri Yamamoto