For their ninth album together, these two prolific Japanese jazz giants continue their almost telepathic musical rapport while also providing the listener with the thrill of the new.

When entering the studio to record Aloft, Tamura and Fujii didn’t talk about what they were going to do, and had no plan save to rely on their experience and mutual trust.

The result, across six lengthy extemporisations, is a delight, a thrilling collaboration that never fails to surprise. So, ‘Traveling Bird’ has the sharp angularity and tumult you’d expect from these two players, but ‘Migration’ is all shimmer, subtle swells and a crystalline beauty. ‘Wintering’ features with some extraordinary trumpet blowing and alternately roiling-then-serene piano work; ‘Lifting’ is as light as a feather; and ‘Waiting For Dawn’ is ripe with expectation. It's also worth mentioning Tamura's horn honks on the playful ‘On The Flyway’: they sound like nothing on earth – except perhaps, the grumbles of a huge, frighteningly aggressive and extremely dyspeptic gull.