Jazz Articles about Natsuki Tamura

About Natsuki Tamura

Album Review

Satoko Fujii Orchestra Kobe: After The Storm

Read "After The Storm" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
September 2, 2026

Pianist, composer and orchestra leader Satoko Fujii tends to resist comparisons between her career and that of Duke Ellington. The analogy, however, is difficult to avoid. At a time when maintaining a large ensemble is an increasingly rare undertaking, Fujii has led an astonishing number of them. Alongside her solo work, duos and quartets, there have been Orchestra Berlin, Orchestra Kobe, Orchestra Nagoya, Orchestra New York, Orchestra Tokyo and the Bunker Ulmenwall Orchestra recordings. Her command of large ensembles can ...

Album Review

Satoko Fujii: Second Attempt

Read "Second Attempt" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
August 31, 2026

Satoko Fujii has spent three decades assembling large ensembles the way other composers assemble scores, treating personnel as raw material shaped alongside melody and structure. Her Berlin orchestra, formed during a 2014 residency, reunites nine years later. Recorded live in Berlin on May 3, 2026, the album closes out a tour Fujii nearly abandoned after a family medical emergency pulled her back to Japan mid-way. It unfolds across five continuous movements, “Part 1" through “Part 5." “Part 1" ...

Album Review

Satoko Fujii: Satoko Fujii's Bunker Ulmenwall Orchestra

Read "Satoko Fujii's Bunker Ulmenwall Orchestra" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
June 20, 2026

In an always courageous three-decade career, pianist Satoko Fujii's recorded output has never wavered. She excels at solo piano, duo outings--mostly with her life partner, trumpeter Natsuki Tamura--quartets, quintets, and lastly, big band/orchestral recordings. The one exception to the unwavering description is her big-band output. Entity (Libra Records) came out in 2019. Then a seven-year orchestral dry spell ensued. Blame this, in part, on the COVID-19 epidemic. But Fujii intends to make up for that lull in 2026, beginning with ...

Album Review

Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii: Ki

by John Sharpe
March 3, 2026

Sometimes the most bracing departures come from artists who know each other best. Japanese pianist Satoko Fujii has a discography with over one hundred entries in every configuration from solo to big band, notable for their variety, often with husband trumpeter Natsuki Tamura in close attendance. However Ki, the tenth offering from their long running duet partnership, marks a striking shift in approach. Where its predecessors thrived on volatility and contrast, this set opts for radical restraint, paring back emotional ...

Album Review

Satoko Fujii This Is It!: Message

Read "Message" reviewed by Neri Pollastri

by Neri Pollastri
February 9, 2026

Terzo album per il trio This Is It! di Satoko Fujii, che vede accanto alla pianista il compagno di vita Natsuki Tamura alla tromba e Takashi Itani a batteria e percussioni, per un lavoro che mescola con equilibrio e ingegno scrittura e improvvisazione radicale. I sei brani in cui è suddiviso l'album si basano infatti tutti su degli elementi scritti, ma gli spazi per praticare l'improvvisazione con modalità estremamente libere e creative non mancano in nessuno di essi, ...

Album Review

Satoko Fujii: Message

by John Sharpe
December 28, 2025

Even within the remarkably consistent output of prolific Japanese pianist Satoko Fujii, certain ensembles command special attention. The This Is It! Trio --named for her conviction that the group represented an ideal working unit has become one such forum. Message, the trio's third release, reunites Fujii with her crew -husband and trumpeter Natsuki Tamura and drummer Takashi Itani -for a program that underscores her strengths as both composer and catalytic improviser. Unlike in some of her other bands ...

Album Review

Satoko Fujii Quartet: Burning Wick

Read "Burning Wick" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
December 24, 2025

Few pianists alive match the relentless invention of Satoko Fujii. Born in Tokyo in 1958, she trained classically before studying jazz at Berklee and the New England Conservatory under mentors such as Paul Bley and Ran Blake. Since the 1990s she has released more than 100 albums, often marking her birthday with a new project that might drift toward meditative stillness or erupt into full-tilt big-band turbulence. The Quartet on Burning Wick--Fujii (piano), Natsuki Tamura (trumpet), Takeharu Hayakawa (bass) and ...