This San Francisco-based group of improvisation veterans explore the outer edges of sound as the Natto Quartet. The unusual instrumentation includes shakuhachi player Philip Gelb and Shoko Hikage on koto with pianist Chris Brown and Tim Perkis on electronics. Gelb, Hikage, and Perkis had performed together as Trio Natto before adding Brown. A live recording of a concert at the Headlands Center for the Arts in 2002 resulted in the issue of their first album, Headlands, the following year. ~ Wade Kergan