The trio Kaisei is a remarkable formation of jazz greats. Japanese pianist Aki Takase founded the group together with alto saxophonist Paul van Kemenade and drummer Han Bennink. Before that time, the two Dutchmen had already worked with the Japanese artist: van Kemenade toured with her towards the end of the 1990s and Bennink and Takase made an album together in 2011. Since that year Kaisei has been on tour, and a year later their first album Kaisei Nari was released. It appeared to be a perfect combination in which the soulful playing of van Kemenade complements the defiant piano playing of Takase in a special way. Bennink only plays the snare drum. The compositions are written by Takase and van Kemenade and they explore the limits of jazz. The trio have written a new jazz language, delivering a whole book filled with models of high-quality improv.
