Natto Quartet - Thousand Oaks (2005)

Critics called Natto Quartet's April 2003 debut, Headlands, "exotic, equisitely crafted, and eye opening" (Signal to Noise) and "music for our time" (AllAboutJazz.com), with The Wire's Bill Shoemaker noting, "each sound has the self-contained integrity of a stroke of masterful calligraphy." "The sound is so arresting and unique," mused WEMU Music Librarian/Cadence Senior Columnist Michael G. Nastos, "that the open-minded listener cannot help but be completely drawn into their weave of sonic wonder. It's a truly new music unlike anything I've ever heard, a strong candidate for best avant project of 2003, and sure to turn many a global thinking, progressive-minded ear inside out." Thousand Oaks further documents the group's singular approach to finding common ground for collective improvisation with instruments from otherwise disparate eras, cultures and musical genres.