Jazz Articles about Satoko Fujii

About Satoko Fujii

Album Review

Satoko Fujii's notoriety is based on her originality, energy, and an unmatchable sense of fearlessness and adventure in the creation of music. As a leader of numerous ensembles--duos, trios, quartets, and big bands--she is a gregarious and generous spirit. Her music ebbs and flows, a moment of captivating serenity followed by a burst of a clamorous, sometimes riotous action. A gentile and pretty interlude followed by a flailing riot, with each band member giving as good as he or she ...

Album Review

Satoko Fujii New Trio: Spring Storm

Read "Spring Storm" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
August 14, 2013

Back at the start of her career, Japanese pianist Satoko Fujii's reputation was considerably enhanced by her stellar trio with bassist Mark Dresser and drummer Jim Black. Together they waxed seven discs, with the last Trace A River (Libra) in 2008. Since then, the traditional piano trio hasn't appeared in her prodigious output, until the New Trio debuted here on Spring Storm. While perhaps not as virtuosic as their predecessors, bassist Todd Nicholson and drummer Takashi Itani bring open minds ...

Multiple Reviews

Satoko Fujii's Ma-Do and New Trio: Time Stands Still and Spring Storm

by Hrayr Attarian
July 28, 2013

Japanese pianist Satoko Fujii is a prolific and versatile musician whose fast pace and relatively large volume are never at the expense of quality. In fact her improvisation heavy records are innovative and cerebral yet they maintain a certain, surprising, accessibility. She has recorded in settings ranging from solo to large orchestra and always with a refreshing variety of instrumentations. Two of her 2013 releases are Time Stands Still with her Ma Do quartet and Spring Storm with her new ...

Album Review

Satoko Fujii ma-do: Time Stands Still

Read "Time Stands Still" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
June 2, 2013

When asked why she has lead or co-lead so many different projects (23 at last count), pianist Satoko Fujii replied “It's like food. I don't like just Japanese food, but also Italian food, French food and so on, and I would soon get tired if I just ate Japanese food." If her ma-do quartet were to have a culinary equivalent it would certainly be tasty: something spicy with rich complex flavors. It's almost as if Fujii has so many ideas ...

Album Review

Satoko Fujii Ma-Do: Time Stands Still

Read "Time Stands Still" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
May 25, 2013

In terms of CD releases, pianist Satoko Fujii passed the bandleader baton to her husband, trumpeter Natsuki Tamura, in 2012, resulting in two exceptional albums on the Libra Records label: the trumpet/piano duo outing, Muku, and Forever, from Tamura's European folk music-flavored Gato Libre group. For the always prolific Fujii, a year without a release under her leadership is an oddity. The year 2013 is lining up differently, however, with the debut of the Satoko Fujii New Trio's Spring Storm ...

Album Review

Satoko Fujii New Trio: Spring Storm

Read "Spring Storm" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
May 14, 2013

Some of jazz's finest, most innovative and adventurous music can be found in the piano trio format. The list of artists pushing the boundaries is a long one: Vijay Iyer; Hal Galper; Craig Taborn; Brad Mehldau and a good dozen more, conservatively. A name rarely mentioned in that group--in part, because she leads so many groups with different configurations (23, at last count), yet hasn't offered up a piano trio set since 2008--is Japanese-born pianist/bandleader Satoko Fujii.In addition ...

Album Review

Satoko Fujii Min-Yoh Ensemble: Watershed

Read "Watershed" reviewed by AAJ Italy Staff

by AAJ Italy Staff
April 3, 2012

C'è da domandarsi se nella carriera della pianista giapponese questo disco rappresenti una tappa mirata ma isolata, oppure un'evoluzione consapevole e duratura, in grado di proiettarsi nel futuro. Infatti la musica scaturisce da un approfondimento del Min-Yoh, cioè della musica folklorica giapponese “che, suonata da dilettanti ed arrangiata collettivamente dagli esecutori, presenta una bellezza derivata dalla semplicità". In Watershed la Fujii dà la sua personale interpretazione del Min-Yoh, intrecciando ovviamente questa recente influenza con le matrici che hanno segnato la ...