Windflower Ayumi Tanaka, Thomas Morgan, Thomas Strønen

• 1 Windflower 04:44
• 2 La Source 05:55
• 3 From Us, To You 04:43
• 4 Tree of Stars 05:10
• 5 Weaving 03:41
• 6 The Sea Is Still 02:36
• 7 Spring 04:20
• 8 Driftwood 06:04
• 9 The Dissolving Sun 02:41
• Total Runtime 39:54

Info zu Windflower

Spärlich, subtil und ebenso sehr von der Stille wie vom Klang geprägt – ihre Musik entsteht aus feinen, flüchtigen Gesten“, schrieb das BBC Music Magazine über Ayumi Tanakas Album Subaqueous Silence. Mit Windflower bestätigt die Pianistin erneut die Kraft eines musikalischen Ansatzes, bei dem Intensität durch Zurückhaltung und Konzentration entsteht. Diesmal jedoch ist die Musik größtenteils ein gemeinschaftlicher Schaffensprozess, bei dem alle drei Musikerinnen und Musiker die Stücke im Moment des Spiels gemeinsam formen. Die in Wakayama geborene und heute in Oslo lebende Ayumi Tanaka arbeitet bereits seit einem Jahrzehnt mit dem norwegischen Schlagzeuger Thomas Strønen zusammen – unter anderem in dessen Band Time Is A Blind Guide sowie im Trio Bayou mit der Saxophonistin und Sängerin Marthe Lea. Die Zusammenarbeit mit dem US-amerikanischen Kontrabassisten Thomas Morgan ist hingegen eine neue Entwicklung. Die drei Musiker fanden sofort einen gemeinsamen musikalischen Zugang, als sie im September 2024 erstmals gemeinsam auf der Nasjonal Jazz Scene Victoria in Oslo auftraten. Auf Anregung des Produzenten Manfred Eicher folgte im Mai 2025 die Aufnahme von Windflower in den Studios La Buissonne im Süden Frankreichs. Das Album, das neben acht leuchtenden freien Balladen auch Ayumi Tanakas Komposition „La Source“ enthält, erscheint unmittelbar vor einer internationalen Tournee mit Konzerten in Norwegen, Frankreich, Deutschland, Belgien und der Schweiz.

Ayumi Tanaka, Klavier
Thomas Morgan, Kontrabass
Thomas Strønen, Schlagzeug

Aufgenommen im Mai 2025, Studios La Buissonne, Pernes-les-Fontaines

Ayumi Tanaka
is a Japanese pianist and composer who began playing music at the age of three, influenced by classical, and later on, Nordic improvisational musicians and her own mentor, the late Misha Alperin at the Norwegian Academy of Music where she studied from 2011 until 2016. Starting in 2018, Ayumi began collaborating with Manfred Eicher at ECM Records which culminated in her Trio’s album “Subaqueous Silence”. Currently, she is performing globally with different ensembles as well as developing her own solo music.

Thomas Morgan
Born in 1981 in Hayward, California, Thomas is an American jazz bassist known for his exceptionally lyrical, understated style and his rare ability to make even complex improvisational settings feel weightless and conversational.

Originally a classical cellist, he switched to double bass at age 14 and quickly developed an unusually refined sense of harmony, time, and melodic counterpoint – traits that would become his signature.

Thomas studied with Joe Gilman, Art Davis, and later at the Manhattan School of Music with Harvie S and Garry Dial.

His early grounding in classical technique, combined with a deep absorption of the jazz tradition, shaped his sound: warm, transparent, rhythmically subtle, and deeply supportive without ever being passive.

Thomas is widely admired in the jazz world for his listening-first approach. He often functions less as a “bass player” and more as an equal conversationalist – reacting, probing, and reshaping the harmonic and rhythmic environment in real time.

His touch is feather-light but authoritative; his lines are melodic rather than pattern-driven; and he is known for rarely repeating himself. He has become a first-call collaborator for some of the most forward-thinking artists in contemporary jazz, including Bill Frisell (one of his most important ongoing partnerships; their duo work is critically acclaimed), Paul Motian (Motian loved Morgan’s “anti-formula” approach), Joey Baron, Craig Taborn, Masabumi Kikuchi (another defining musical relationship), Steve Coleman & Tomasz Stańko.

Thomas appears on dozens of influential recordings across ECM, Intakt, Pirouet, and other major labels.

His bass playing is often described as transparent, elastic, and emotionally direct, with an almost uncanny ability to make any ensemble feel more spacious and conversational.

He continues to live in New York City, performing internationally and remaining one of the most quietly influential bass voices of his generation.

Thomas Strønen
is a Norwegian jazz drummer and composer, known for more than 60 albums, and cooperation with internationally acclaimed musicians worldwide. Strønen is recording for the great German label ECM and also for Rune Grammofon. As a composer, Strønen has contributed to the release of over forty recordings as well as several commissioned works for festivals.

Booklet für Windflower