Satoko Fujii: Defying Expectations

Kurt Gottschalk

CD/DVD Reviewer since 2002

Kurt Gottschalk doesn't have a favorite Derek Bailey album, but he does have a favorite Chuck Berry song.

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Published: July 20, 2007

Back in New York in July 2007, Fujii will be playing a duo with violinist Carla Kihlstedt who, like Fujii, seems to have a different band for every month of the year. Kihlstedt is best known for her work with the art metal band Sleepytime Gorilla Museum and the chamber Americana group Tin Hat, but she also leads her own odd pop trio, Two Foot Yard, plays with another hard rock band Book of Knots and has many of her own improv meetings. She and Fujii first played together in 2002, when the ROVA saxophone quartet put them together as a part of its 25th anniversary festivities.

"It was amazing and immediate, Kihlstedt said of that first show together. "It was one of those moments when music takes you where drugs never could. She's fantastic. She's a total powerhouse, but she also has unimaginable subtlety and an enormous technical and emotional vocabulary.

Fujii may be convening her New York Big Band this fall and has West Coast shows scheduled in September with Tamura, Larry Ochs and a piano duo with Myra Melford. The rest of the year will see new CDs including a duo with Kihlstedt, a double duo with Misha Mengleberg, a second Junk Box record (the couple's trio with John Hollenbeck) and new recordings by her trio and quartet. What the year won't see much of is Fujii sitting still.

"I have a busy year, Fujii said. "If we are home too much, we get bored.

Selected Discography

Satoko Fujii Min-Yoh Ensemble, Fuijin Raijin (Victo, 2007)
Junk Box, Fragment (Libra, 2006)
Satoko Fujii Quartet, Zephyros (Natsat, 2003)
Satoko Fujii Orchestra East/West, Double Take (Ewe, 1999
Satoko Fujii, Kitsune-Bi (Tzadik, 1998)
Natsuki Tamura/Satoko Fujii, How Many? (Leo-Libra, 1996)
Satoko Fujii/Paul Bley, Something About Water (Libra-Bomba, 1995)