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Natsuki Tamura, Satoko Fujii: Aloft
by Alberto Bazzurro
Sei improvvisazioni svarianti fra i cinque e i dieci minuti compongono questo nuovo capitolo della saga discografica (molto nutrita, ormai da diversi anni in qua) dei coniugi giapponesi, sempre pronti a misurarsi con nuove sfide, ma nel contempo molto attenti a preservare dati punti fermi. Qual è, ovviamente, il loro sodalizio, sia in duo, come qui, che in organici più ampi. La contrapposizione più avvertibile, in questo nuovo lavoro, è fra il suono limpido--diremmo canonico, se il ...
Continue ReadingNatsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii: Aloft
by Doug Collette
Pianist/composer Satoko Fujii has released over one hundred albums since 1996 and, in line with that prolific output, Aloft is the third record she has appeared on just in 2024; see also the Kaze ensemble's Unwritten (Libra Records, 2024) and the Tokyo Trio's Jet Black (Libra Records, 2024). While it is fair to say she does not make a habit of repeating herself, she is nevertheless aware of what settings offer self-renewing sources of inspiration to her seemingly ...
Continue ReadingSatoko Fujii & Natsuki Tamura: Aloft
by Mike Jurkovic
Feel air move around you throughout the forty-nine or so minutes of Aloft, the latest entry into the ever-compelling soundtrack of Satoko Fujii and Natsuki Tamura's creative coexistence. It ripples like a pond while it roars like the sea. It rafts the updraft and dives in for the kill. It is life in a nutshell: an epic tale of joy a lifetime long. But to hear it revealed in this way--piano, trumpet, lionhearted--is both a privilege and an honor.
Continue ReadingNatsuki Tamura, Satoko Fujii: Aloft
by Dan McClenaghan
A lot of ink has poured from the pens of jazz writers in ruminations on the art of Satoko Fujii. With over a hundred album releases under her name and under the names of various groups she has led, she has given the scribes plenty to listen to and write about. Solo albums, big band albums and every size ensemble in between have come out in relative dribs and drabs--three or four releases a year--or in torrents (see 2022 comment ...
Continue ReadingNatsuki Tamura & Jim Black: NatJim
by Glenn Astarita
Few albums capture the sheer joy of music-making as vividly as NatJim, the first duo recording from trumpeter-composer Natsuki Tamura and drummer Jim Black in over a quarter century. This avant-garde jazz session is a spirited reunion, highlighting their exceptional synergy and limitless creativity. The artists have previously collaborated on two albums led by eminent pianist-composer Satoko Fujii's Four, among others. Tamura, a globetrotting trumpeter since his initial U.S. visit in 1986, infuses the presentation with his powerful, ...
Continue ReadingKaze: Unwritten
by Doug Collette
Improvised music is an acquired taste, to be sure. But for those who dote on the spontaneous, the liberating sensation that arises from interplay in the moment is nothing less than addictive. In that regard, then, Kaze's fittingly titled Unwritten, a wholly spontaneous piece of work, holds a bounty of fascination. Presenting a formidable challenge to listeners at the very outset of the record, this foursome proffers an initial track, “Thirteen Years," that is just shy of thirty-seven ...
Continue ReadingSatoko Fujii: Hyaku: One Hundred Dreams
by Alberto Bazzurro
Inciso al DiMenna Center di New York nel settembre 2022, questo album è forse il migliore, il più importante e ambizioso, realizzato dalla pianista giapponese in tempi recenti (e sappiamo quanto corposa sia la sua produzione da un po' di anni in qua). Basta, da subito, scorrere i nomi coinvolti nel progetto (in special modo il “grande vecchio" Wadada Leo Smith) per rendersene conto. La musica, poi, ci toglie da ogni dubbio o imbarazzo: siamo di fronte a un lavoro ...
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