David Tamura
David Tamura was a Japanese-American New York City-based multi-instrumentalist. He was a member of Von LMO's band on the album Red Resistor, which was described as "brilliantly tight".[1] He had played with many musicians on the New York noise rock scene.[2][3][4] He passed away the June 23, 2023.[5] That week Downtown Music Gallery talked about his contributions, saying “David was a huge force behind many different projects, and always brought extreme energy and enthusiasm to whatever band he was a part of.” [6]
He was one of the main forces behind The Jazzfakers, where he plays guitar, keyboards, and saxophone; one reviewer writes "it’s him that provides the powdery, blues-rich tenor melody that boards the loose-boned march of Oh Rise New, adding a recognizable jazz voice to the restless buzz-keyboard swirls and mosquito-drill guitar, the rambling bass tune and the childlike organ which hangs and fidgets on a single disruptive chord".[7] Of his release Mystic Mountain, with Marc Edwards, Grego Applegate Edwards wrote “David Tamura adds a welcome and contrastively volcanic tenor sax. But then the threesome of Karl Alfonso Evangelista, Colin Sanderson and Alex Lozupone, the three on very high-crank electric guitars, Alex (who also is leader of the band Eighty-Pound Pug that I have happily covered here) on combo electric guitar and bass.”[8] In April, 2023, Tamura recorded an album with the group Toadal Package, which was called Final Entrance in a tribute to Last Exit.
Upon his passing, Rachel Mason wrote: "He just had a true genuine quality of kindness- despite the appearance of being some kind of underground-street-gangster. This sight of him was a character out of Quinten Tarantino movie. Exuding cool. Arms filled with tattoos, and a jet black hair almost looking like fire folding around his face. Arms that were Crazy guns- and then the saxophone. He busted it out and he was just a full fledged experimental jazz machine. He really was A Comic book action hero."[9]
Partial discography
- Charles K. Noyes and David Tamura - duets (1978)
- Von LMO - Red Resistor (1996)
- Julian Cope – Copendium: An Expedition Into The Rock 'N' Roll Underwerld (2012)* Ron Anderson / Robert L. Pepper* / David Tamura / Philippe Petit – Closed Encounters Of The 4 Minds[10] (2012)
- Scott Rifkin's Music for the Free World (feat. David Tamura, Yuko Pepe & Sky Hall)[11] (2013)
- Dave Burrells Conception - (featuring Dave Burrell, Joe Chonto, David Tamura) (2013)
- Gene Janas / Matt Luczak / Gene Moore / David Tamura - Music On Monroe Street: Live At Downtown Music Gallery (2014)
- Zilmrah - Looming
- Saturn Big Brother On Acid – Big Brother On Acid (2014)
with The Jazzfakers
- Jazzfakers (2010)
- Two (2011)
- Here Is Now (2012)
- Hallucinations (2016)
- Little Water Radio Recordings (2021)
- Weise Horn
with Eighty-pound Pug
- Poodle: Live And Totally Improvised At Spectrum (2013) Video from 2013: Eighty-pound Pug Opening Track at Spectrum 1
- When The Flowers Bloom In Baltimore (Live In New York City) (2015)
- Speechless w/ Nonoko Yoshida[12] (2015)
- Thoughts w/ Daniel Carter (2016)
- An EP, an LP and a Single (2016)
- First Meetings
with Pas Musique
- Reconstruction
- Venemous Movie
with The Chonto/Tamura Sonic Insurgency
- w/ Kidd Jordan[13] (2011)
- Promises Kept w/ Sabir Mateen
with Marc Edwards
- Marc Edwards & Slipstream Time Travel, Mystic Mountain: Trouble in the Carina Nebula (2015)
- Marc Edwards & Slipstream Time Travel, There’s a Problem in the Keyhole Nebula! (2016)
David Tamura + Toadal Package
- Final Entrance (2023)
References
- ^ "The Book of Seth: VON LMO — Red Resistor".
- ^ "Damian Olsen/David Tamura: Pianos and Nicole Zaray: Piano and Vocals | the Firehouse Space".
- ^ "Public Eyesore Records - Artists".
- ^ https://elliottlevin.com/event/1749111/340587225/eighty-pound-pug-daniel-carter-barbiana-complex-elliott-levin
- ^ https://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/133263
- ^ https://www.downtownmusicgallery.com/newsletter_detail.php?newsID=4001
- ^ "March 2013 – album reviews – the JazzFakers' 'Here is Now' ("accumulates itself out of loose particles of imagination; like a rogue dust-bunny")". 27 March 2013.
- ^ http://gapplegateguitar.blogspot.com/2016/03/marc-edwards-slipstream-time-travel.html
- ^ https://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/133263
- ^ "Ron Anderson / Robert L. Pepper / David Tamura / Philippe Petit – Closed Encounters of the 4 Minds (2012, CD)". Discogs.
- ^ "CD Baby Music Store".
- ^ https://www.downtownmusicgallery.com/Main/news/Newsletter-2016-01-29.html
- ^ "The Chonto/Tamura Sonic Insurgency w/ Kidd Jordan - the Chonto, Kidd Jordan, Tamura Sonic Insurgency | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic.