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Satoko Fujii / Natsuki Tamura: Pentas: Tribute To Eric and Chris Stern
by Glenn Astarita
Unquestionable beauty and grace are two of many attributes that help define this pioneering duo's seventh duet album. Pianist/composer Satoko Fuji and trumpeter Natsuki Tamura enjoy acclaimed legacies as leaders. They are contributors to large and small ensembles often cast in futurisms, encompassing progressive jazz, neo-jazz, improvisation and offshoots of world music and indigenous folk. And on this release, their sonic explorations encapsulate gorgeous melodies, memorable hooks, and conventional processes that include symmetrical improvisational dialogues and song-based extensions.
Continue ReadingIkue Mori / Satoko Fujii / Natsuki Tamura: Prickly Pear Cactus
by Dan McClenaghan
Musical collaboration is problematic in Covid-19 times. Rubbing elbows with fellow musicians can translate to positive test results. But the music must roll on. At least that is how electronics wizard/laptopist Ikue Mori, pianist Satoko Fujii and trumpeter Natsuki Tamura feel. Instead of getting together body and soul, the trio decided to swap sound files on the internet--Mori from her home base in New York, Fujii and Tamura from their household in Kobe, Japan. So sounds flowed across ...
Continue ReadingKaze: Sandstorm
by John Sharpe
French-Japanese cooperative Kaze continues to thrive on Sandstorm, its fifth release. This time out, the enduring line-up of pianist Satoko Fujii, trumpeters Natsuki Tamura and Christian Pruvost, and drummer Peter Orins, is supplemented by New York-based electronic artist Ikue Mori, on a program of seven cuts from a NYC studio session in February 2020. While previous albums have either presented charts from across the band or off-the-map explorations, here they combine both. Three short collectives separate four longer ...
Continue ReadingSatoko Fujii / Natsuki Tamura: Pentas: Tribute To Eric and Chris Stern
by Dan McClenaghan
Pianist Satoko Fujii and trumpeter Natsuki Tamura came off a European tour in 2019 and went into the studio in Krakow, Poland, and recorded Pentas, their seventh duo disc, an effort that joins the Fujii/Tamura pairings How Many (Libra Records, 1997), Clouds (Libra Records, 2002), Like In Krakow, In November (Not Two Records, 2006), Chun (Libra Records, 2008), Muku (Libra Records, 2012) and Kisaragi (Libra Records, 2017). Freshness and adventurous spontaneity are the trademarks of Fujii's music, whether ...
Continue ReadingGato Libre: Koneko
by Karl Ackermann
Gato Libre has long represented the anthesis of the larger Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii portfolio. Haunting melodies and striking improvisations have been the mark of the group throughout their quarter-century of work. Trumpeter Tamura and partner/accordionist Fujii have been the pillars of the group since its debut, Strange Village (Muzak Inc, 2005). Bassist Norikatsu Koreyasu passed away in 2011, and guitarist Kazuhiko Tsumura in 2015, shortly after trombonist Yasuko Kaneko first appeared on Gato Libre's DuDu (Libra Records, 2014). ...
Continue ReadingSatoko Fujii Orchestra New York: Entity
by Dan McClenaghan
Pianist / composer Satoko Fujii has staked out her ground as one of the most original voices in jazz—or in any artform, for that matter. She has released more than eighty albums, beginning with her 1995 debut, Something About Water (Libra Records), a piano duet set with Paul Bley. She tours relentlessly. She records in every ensemble format imaginable: solos, duos, trios, quartets and big bands. Lots of big bands, based in Berlin, Tokyo, Kobe, Nagoya, New York.
Continue ReadingSatoko Fujii Orchestra New York: Entity
by Karl Ackermann
As she did in 2019, pianist/composer Satoko Fujii—an artist at home in many formations—opens the new decade with an orchestra recording. Entity, from Fujii's Orchestra New York, is the eleventh release from the ensemble that has remained largely intact for almost twenty-three years. It is an all-star collective that includes saxophonists Oscar Noriega, Ellery Eskelin and Tony Malaby, trumpeters Natsuki Tamura and Herb Robertson, guitarist Nels Cline and drummer Ches Smith. Entity has its moments of tranquility but ...
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