All the members of this trio are Japanese. The pianist and drummer live in New York City and often collaborate; the bassist lives in Madrid but comes to N.Y.C. twice a year for a month each time. The producer heard them at Manhattan jazz bar Tomi Jazz and immediately booked a session to capture their magic before Kamaguchi left town. Yonezawa, from Hokkaido, earned multiple awards while studying performance and composition at Berklee, then joined Greg Osby's group on Jason Moran's recommendation and can be heard with him on the Blue Note album Public. Other credits include work with David Liebman, George Garzone, Sam Newsome, and many more. In 2016 the Fresh Sound New Talent label released her debut album, A Result of the Colors. But none of these credits reflect the freedom with which she plays on Boundary. Kamaguchi , also from Hokkaido, has the most recording credits (upwards of 30) in the trio, ranging from Ahmed Abdullah's Actual Proof (CIMP, 1999) to a series of tribute albums with Vinnie Sperrazza and Jacob Sacks (Fresh Sound New Talent). Inspired to play bass after hearing Jaco Pastorius albums, he studied with Gary Peacock student Yoshio Ikeda, then moved to Boston to attend Berklee, followed by a dozen years in New York City performing and recording with ESP star Sonny Simmons, David Murray, Charles Gayle, Paul Motian, Dave Douglas, Frank Kimbrough, and even Toots Thielemans. Kobayashi, who put the trio together, hails from Tokyo, where he earned a Bachelor's degree in art criticism and art history from Tama Art University. After moving to New York, he expanded his knowledge at the Drummer's Collective. He can also be heard on Jan (2014) with bassist Jochem van Dijk and Nine Stories (2016) with Takeshi Asai.
01. Boundary 4:23
02. Alchemy 6:03
03. Tremor 4:40
04. Meryon 7:18
05. I’ll Be Seeing You 6:39
06. Reef 7:31
07. Veil 8:50
08. Onement 6:08
09. Wavelength 5:15
10. Nostalgio 9:51
Megumi Yonezawa, piano
Masa Kamaguchi, bass
Ken Kobayashi, drums
All tracks by Megumi Yonezawa/Masa Kamaguchi/Ken Kobayashi (ESP-Disk' Ltd.) except "I’ll Be Seeing You" by Irvin Kahal/Sammy Fain (Fain Music Co./BMG Gold Songs).
Cover art by Kiichiro Adachi
Photos by Eva Kapanadze
Liner notes by Matthew Shipp
Produced by Steve Holtje
Recorded at Park West Studios on June 4, 2017 by Jim Clouse
Megumi Yonezawa is from Hokkaido, Japan. She began learning classical piano at the age of six. Megumi graduated from Berklee College of Music with a degree in Bachelor of Music. During her time at Berklee, she pursued dual majors in performance and jazz composition. Megumi is a recipient of numerous prestigious awards such as the Jazz Performance Awards, Clare Fisher Award and Techniques Endowed Scholarship. After her graduation from Berklee, Megumi received a scholarship from Japan as a trainee of the Hokkaido Cultural Foundation Overseas Artist Training. With her scholarship, Megumi had the opportunity to further her research of jazz music in the United States.
And Megumi received a recommendation from Jason Moran (Blue Note Recording Artist) and became the regular pianist for Greg Osby (Blue Note Recording Artist). She acquired countless performance experiences while playing piano for Greg Osby and his band. She had the opportunity to perform in prominent venues such as The Village Vanguard, Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, Birdland, Jazz Standard, Sweet Rhythm, Symphony Space, Blues Alley, Cornelia Street Cafe, Montreal Jazz Festival, Northsea Jazz Festival, Umbria Jazz Festival and many others.
Megumi has recording experiences with Greg Osby and renowned jazz artist; Nicholas Payton, Robert Harst, Rodney Green and Joan Osborne in the album titled, “Public" (Blue Note Records). And as other projects as a sideman, Megumi performs with vibraphonist Mike Pinto’s group “Little Green Men", a group that is released their first album on Steeplechase Records in 2010. Also she plays in Fresh Sound Recording Artist, Jostein Gulbrandsen group with grammy award winning bassit Phil Palombi and former Jean Luc Ponty sideman Thierry Arpino. Additionally, Megumi also had been an Artist in Residence at Wildacres in North Carolina in 2010 and 2011.
Megumi has her recording debut as leader in Fresh Sound New Talent with her own trio that includes bassist John Herbert, and Eric McPherson on drums. It will be out on April 30th, 2016.
01. A Result of the Colors 6:05 02. Children of the Sun 5:27 03. Untitled 6:07 04. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde 3:18 05. Sketch 2:59 06. For Heaven's Sake 9:08 07. Nor Dear or Fear 5:01 08. A Letter from Stillness 5:48 09. Epilogue 3:41
