Jazz Articles about Satoko Fujii

About Satoko Fujii

Catching Up With

Satoko Fujii on Sound, Freedom, and Not Two

by Cezary L. Lerski
September 11, 2026

Across nearly three decades, Not Two Records has documented some of the most adventurous music in improvised art--and few artists embody that spirit more fully than Satoko Fujii. A pianist, composer, and bandleader of extraordinary range, Fujii has released over 100 albums, each marked by curiosity, fearlessness, and emotional clarity. Her relationship with Not Two is one of the label's defining stories: built on trust, shared values, and a commitment to music that exists outside commercial expectations. In ...

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

Satoko Fujii-Myra Melford: Katarahi

Read "Katarahi" reviewed by Doug Collette

by Doug Collette
June 4, 2026

The connection(s) between pianist-composers Satoko Fujii and Myra Melford transcend the usual truisms. Not kindred spirits in creativity or even mirror images in technique, the pair are more like twin sisters of different artistic mothers, distinctly their own individuals in style yet complementary as such in almost ineffable ways. Hence this album title, a Japanese term referring to a heart-to-heart conversation between intimate friends, fittingly suggests a deep, meaningful dialogue. Katarahi is the duo's second collaboration, but as ...

Album Review

Myra Melford - Satoko Fujii: Katarahi

Read "Katarahi" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
May 20, 2026

When four hands meet across 176 keys, is it even possible for pianists to check their egos at the stage door? Piano duets, by their very nature, often invite comparison--even confrontation. Consider the 1977 encounter between Mary Lou Williams and Cecil Taylor, the high-profile 1978 concerts by Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea, or Kris Davis and Craig Taborn's Octopus (Pyroclastic, 2018). Each of these pairings carried the tension of a musical grappling match. Even Bill Evans' overdubbed Conversations with Myself ...

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 ...