Yasuaki Shimizu played National Sawdust (Early Show)

For the first time in nearly four decades, Yasuaki Shimizu is touring the United States and stopped by Williamsburg's National Sawdust for three intimate sets.

Following Thursday's opening night, Yasuaki Shimizu played two shows on Friday and kicked things off early with his first set at 8:00 P.M. Taking the stage to lush ambient tones provided, Shimizu emerged center stage and was quickly equipped with some microphones as he picked up is saxophone and began to bring us all into his world of wonder. Creating soundscapes that ranged from flowing ambient harmonies to abstract avant-guard experimentations, his performance covered the mind blowing ground that his discography has offered over the decades and took us all on a trip through his wonderful pieces of work. Looping his own vocal patterns and morphing them into percussive beats, he would then switch between classic acoustic saxophone and electronic woodwinds to create diverse sounds that all built up over layers of wild experimentations or more traditional styles. Adding in additional, soft drum pads, he continued to dazzle as the cacophony swirled around him, at times creating dizzying clouds of blown-out sheets of sound and other times billowing into pillows of softer jazz. Continuously thanking the crowd between each song, it was clear just how moved Shimizu was and how blown away he seemed to be by having such dedicated fans after such a long time away from America. "This is my favorite, 'Dream #2'" he said before one tune, a lovely drifting number that seemed to meander around a circular rhythm as it swirled away into a dream-like state. His ability to shift from something as serene as that to a piece where he'd yell and scream into his sax to create distorted and at times a little extreme notes was just another way for him to show off his wide spectrum of sounds. While his records, to me, have felt more grounded with deeper roots of percussion, this near-solo set was more adrift and gave a weightless sense of floating through time and space as such an unreal soundtrack encompassed the intimate room. As things progressed and the lights behind him began to glow and create patterns on the backdrop, it added to the depth and overall mood of the evening. After he announced what would be his last song, he took us on one last trip through a cosmic haze before the lights cut-out perfectly on his last note. When they came back on, the room was erupting with applause and he held his position for several seconds before breaking to reveal a deep smile. He took one final bow and thanked his accompaniment on stage (on lone person helping to loop his sounds and provide some additional strings) and disappeared just as quickly as he emerged, back into his own universe from which he first came.