Satoko Fujii/Cuong Vu

Nate Chinen

Jazz

All too often, jazz -- even the sort that bills itself as "experimental" or "avant garde" -- seems frankly out of sync with our era. In timbre, tone and procedure, much of what transpires today could easily have taken place 30 years ago. Which is part of what distinguishes Satoko Fujii and Cuong Vu -- two otherwise dissimilar artists who happen to share an ethos of true progressiveness and an aversion to genre-speak.

In this enterprise, Vu is the more successful of the two. Come Play with Me (Knitting Factory), the trumpeter's third album, radiates the weightless atmosphere and slow-burn intensity of '90s shoegazers like My Bloody Valentine and the Cocteau Twins. It's an impressive accomplishment for a jazz ensemble, all the more so because Vu works in trio, supported only by bass and drums. Of course, it helps that the bassist and drummer in question -- Stomu Takeishi and John Hollenbeck respectively -- speak Vu's vernacular. The title track that opens their disc is a 14-minute opus that seeps through electronic ambience into an achingly hypnotic melody, and back again; its effect, strikingly un-jazzlike, is actually strongly reminiscent of Sigur Rós (particularly the dirge "Svefn-G-Englar," which occupies an analogous spot on their last CD). Like most of Come Play with Me, this elastic moment reflects the sound of Vu's generation. "It's very modern, and most of all, it's very personal," observes guitarist Pat Metheny, who hired Vu not long after hearing the album. "Everything about it could never have existed until this particular moment."

The same could be said of Fujii's current quartet, for somewhat different reasons. Vulcan (Libra), the pianist's most recent disc, features electric bassist Takeharu Hayakawa and drummer Tatsuya Yoshida (of the noise-rock unit Ruins). Their sound is coarser than Vu's, less an amalgam than a collision. As always, Fujii is deft in the application of folk melodies from her native Japan -- but there's a sense of something superimposed here, or something yet unformed. Noticeably absent are the expressive touches that make Junction (her last trio CD, on Ewe records) and April Shower (duets with violinist Mark Feldman, also Ewe) so effective. Even her rapport with trumpeter-husband seems cursory; a problem that, given their documented chemistry (most recently via Clouds, on Libra), shouldn't have gone unnoticed. The good news is that Fujii's Vulcan quartet, which can seem abrasively thuggish on disc, achieves a fierce leanness onstage.

Sat., April 27, 8 p.m., $11-$22, Painted Bride Art Center, 230 Vine St., 215-925-9914.

-- Respond to this article in our Forums -- click to jump there