Streams by Yuma Uesaka and Marilyn Crispell

Streams

each breath is a microtome
replete with the apex from which it fell

let the quivering forebearer pass the shield
let the child make of it a raft

the canyon carved seeks nothing
but articulation of the air surrounding
there is nothing a sword can say
that the moon will not come to possess

captive in the shield’s orange irons
no stroke can part the current

without nightly giving
a fraction of your lung

- Rushi Vyas
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"packed with unexpected details and aglow with shared intuition"- Nate Chinen, WGBO

"beautifully contradictory atmosphere” - Tyran Grillo, New York City Jazz Record

"[Uesaka] has arrived with a mature conception, and the tools to execute it, all promising more to savour in the future.” - John Sharpe, All About Jazz

"Don’t sleep on this record” -- Filipe Freitas, JazzTrail

"fluid, accurate and innovative” - Ken Waxman, Jazzword

About the album:

Among the many lauded recordings Marilyn Crispell has made as a leader and collaborator over the years are albums with iconic reed players from Anthony Braxton and Joseph Jarman to Tim Berne and Joe Lovano. Now she has teamed with Yuma Uesaka, a rising talent among multi-reed performers. Their searching new duo album Streams – featuring a mix of free improvisations and Uesaka’s poetic compositions – will be released collaboratively via Not Two Records and Polyfold Music on October 15, 2021, digitally and on CD. Crispell has produced a series of beloved albums for ECM in recent decades, including Nothing Ever Was, Anyway, a classic that DownBeat called “one of the loveliest records of piano music ever released on ECM… stunningly played.” The New York City-based Uesaka – who plays tenor saxophone and B-flat and contra-alto clarinets on Streams – made his mark in 2015 with a debut solo EP, Spear and Shield, which was singled out by Bird Is the Worm for its blend of “power” and “lyricism.” Next, Uesaka’s album with new trio Ocelot earned praise on both sides of the Atlantic, from WBGO to The Wire, along with being featured as one of spring 2021’s Best Jazz Albums by Bandcamp. For her part, Crispell says: “Yuma is special, I think, and we connected musically, intellectually and spiritually. Playing duo creates the possibility for an intimate and very exposed kind of communication. There is no one and nothing to hide behind, so it’s both challenging and exciting.”

- Bradley Bambarger

Tracklist

1.	Meditation	2:47
2.	Iterations I	6:17
3.	Streams	11:09
4.	Capillarity	7:58
5.	Torrent	3:52

6.	Ma / Space	8:59

Credits

released October 15, 2021

Yuma Uesaka - Tenor Saxophone, Bb Clarinet, Contra-alto Clarinet
Marilyn Crispell - Piano

Chatori Shimizu - Shō (track 6 only)

Recorded November 29th, 2018 by Chris Anderson at Nevessa Production Woodstock, NY
Additional recording on March 12th, 2019 by Kieran Kelly at The Buddy Project in Queens, NY
Mixing/Mastering by Eivind Opsvik at Greenwood Underground in Brooklyn, NY

Poem by Rushi Vyas (Full set available with album download or at www.yumasax.com/streams_poems/ )

Album Art by Alexandra Powell

Co-released by Not Two Recording and Polyfold Music.

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For CD purchase, visit: www.nottwo.com/mw1010

Since the CD is sold on a separate platform from Bandcamp, please note that digital download is not included with that purchase. That said, if you buy the CD via the Not Two page, email me the receipt to yuma@polyfold.org and I will send you a download code.

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Thank you to everyone that made this record possible: Marilyn Crispell, Chatori Shimizu; Chris Anderson, Eivind Opsvik, Kieran Kelly; Rushi Vyas, Alexandra Powell; Marek Winiarski, Ben Rolston, Alex Levine, Lesley Mok. I’d also like to thank friends and mentors who have offered insight through conversations and/or actions: Andrew Bishop, Jeff Lederer, Aakash Mittal, Lisa Mezzacappa, David Leon, Colin Hinton, Cat Toren, Megan Niffenegger, and Stephen Boegehold. Finally, I’d like to thank my family: Akiko, Hiroto, and Mai Uesaka, as well as my late dog Tino.

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