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Jazz Articles about Satoko Fujii
Satoko Fujii & Tatsuya Yoshida: Baikamo
by Mark Corroto
Don't know how she does it, but pianist Satoko Fujii has released yet another compelling ensemble. Somewhere in between her solo performances, multi-continent large ensembles, quartets Kira Kira, Gato Libre and Kaze (to name just a few projects), she wrote music, toured and recorded with drummer Tatsuya Yoshida in 2019. Toh-Kichi isn't Fujii's first duo with Yoshida, there's Erans (Tzadik, 2004) and Toh-Kichi (Les Disques Victo, 2002). It's just that this reunion outing is sort of a surprise ...
Continue ReadingSatoko Fujii & Tatsuya Yoshida: Baikamo
by Dan McClenaghan
Some of pianist Satoko Fujii's most explosive music comes with her work with drummer Tatsuya Yoshida. Their duo outings under the name Toh-Kichi, including Erans (Tzadik, 2005) and Toh-Kichi (Victo, 2002) are raucous affairs that veer in an out of mayhem, as are their recordings with the Satoko Fujii Quartet, including Vulcan, (2001), Zephyros (2003), and Bacchus (2007), all on the Libra Records label. Yoshida is a stomp the floors, slam the doors percussionist—you won't hear much in the way ...
Continue ReadingSatoko Fujii - Joe Fonda: 4
by Karl Ackermann
When pianist Satoko Fujii and bassist Joe Fonda first teamed up on Duet (Long Song Records, 2016), neither was familiar with the work of the other. Three short years later, “other" no longer applies, as the instantaneous rapport Fujii and Fonda found has led to a growing portfolio of cutting-edge music. 4 is the latest entry from these exceptional innovators. The prolific Fujii has released more than eighty albums, including a dozen in 2018, in recognition of her ...
Continue ReadingAlister Spence / Satoko Fujii: Intelsat
by Neri Pollastri
Registrato dal vivo in Giappone, al jazzclub dal quale prende il nome, Intelsat è il nono dei dodici album usciti nel 2018 per festeggiare i sessant'anni di Satoko Fujii. La pianista è all'opera in duo con Alister Spence, pianista e tastierista elettrico con il quale collabora attivamente da oltre dieci anni e che qui è impegnato prevalentemente al Fender Rhodes e all'elettronica. I due inanellano sette brani piuttosto diversi sia per lunghezza, sia per organizzazione della musica, ma caratterizzati dal ...
Continue ReadingSatoko Fujii: Ninety-Nine Years
by Angelo Leonardi
Com'è noto la vulcanica e prolifica bandleader giapponese ha pubblicato--nell'anno del suo sessantesimo--un album al mese con le formazioni a lei più congeniali. In questo lavoro è di scena la sua orchestra berlinese, con cui ha debuttato in Ichigo Ichie (Libra 2015) con un organico quasi simile: al posto del trombettista Nikolaus Neuser c'è ora Lina Allemano mentre il chitarrista Kazuhisa Uchihashi non è stato rimpiazzato. Il titolo del disco riprende il nome dell'omonima composizione di Satoko ...
Continue ReadingSatoko Fujii / Ramon Lopez: Confluence
by Karl Ackermann
Satoko Fujii's duo recordings are among her most interesting projects. Those one-on-one situations bring out creative energy in the improviser that becomes perpetual movement between musicians. The shape-shifting artist has worked this magic with Australian pianist Alister Spence, bassist Joe Fonda, violinists Mark Feldman and Carla Kihlstedt, and Fujii's husband, trumpeter Natsuki Tamura. Similarly, Fujii's work with artists with whom she is less familiar seems to spark the inventive challenge she thrives on. That is the case on Confluence with ...
Continue ReadingSatoko Fujii/Ramon Lopez: Confluence
by Dan McClenaghan
Pianist Satoko Fujii has collected a lot of musical soul mates over her twenty-plus year, eighty-plus album career: pianist Paul Bley, her early mentor; trumpeter (and husband) Natsuki Tamura; electronics wizard/keyboardfisit Alister Spence, to name a few notables. All three have teamed with Fujii for at least one extraordinary duo album apiece, showcasing deep connections and near supernatural simpaticos with Fujii's singular artistic vision. Confluence introduces yet another of Fujii's kindred spirits to her duo recording ouvre: Spanish ...
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