Jazz Articles about Satoko Fujii

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Satoko Fujii Min-Yoh Ensemble: Watershed

by Dave Wayne
December 24, 2011

Min-Yoh is the newest star in pianist Satoko Fujii's growing constellation of amazing improvising groups. While the presence of her partner in music and life, virtuoso trumpeter Natsuki Tamura, is a given, Fujii's musical interactions with a seemingly endless array of top-drawer improvisers from all over the world are almost as intimate. The pair gives the sense that there are never any sidemen in their groups, only equal partners. Watershed is dedicated to the exploration of Japanese folk music in ...

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Satoko Fujii's Triple Whammy

by Hrayr Attarian
August 11, 2011

The year 2011 is proving to be a fruitful one for Japanese composer and improviser Satoko Fujii. In addition to a world tour, she has released three albums (all on June 21) on her own Libra record label, each in a different setting and in the company of different musicians. Her only constant companion, through all three discs, is her husband and musical partner, trumpeter Natsuki Tamura. Satoko Fujii Min-Yoh EnsembleWatershedLibra Records2011 ...

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Satoko Fujii: Rafale

by Dan McClenaghan
August 10, 2011

It's no easy task keeping track of the bands under the baton of pianist Satoko Fujii. The prolific avant-garde artist from Japan leads numerous ensembles, including four distinct big bands and multiple quartets and trios, in addition to co-leading duo outings with her husband, trumpeter Natsuki Tamura, very notably on the marvelous Chun (Libra, 2008). She seems to put together at least one new ensemble per year, and in 2011 it's Kaze, a quartet featuring her musical soul mate Tamura, ...

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Satoko Fujii Orchestra New York: ETO

by Troy Collins
July 26, 2011

In addition to an ever-changing array of small combos, tireless Japanese pianist Satoko Fujii continues to lead four international big bands, each based in a different city (Kobe, Nagoya, New York and Tokyo). Of the four, her New York based Orchestra is both her oldest and most prolific, having maintained virtually the same line-up since 1997. ETO, dedicated to her husband, trumpeter Natsuki Tamura on the eve of his sixtieth birthday, is the Orchestra's eighth recording.A milestone event ...

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Satoko Fujii with Natsuki Tamura: Chicago, Illinois, June 27, 2011

by Hrayr Attarian
July 12, 2011

Satoko Fujii with Natsuki TamuraPianoforteChicago, IllinoisJune 27, 2011 The intimate salon at Pianoforte, Chicago's premier piano shop and performance venue, was extremely well suited for Satoko Fujii's intensely personal, introspective music, especially in the solo and duet formats. This was Fujii's much anticipated Chicago debut and she did not disappoint. Opening with a lullaby-like tune inspired by her noisy piano seat at home, she laid down a sparse and deceptively simple ...

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Satoko Fujii Orchestra Tokyo: Zakopane

by Raul d'Gama Rose
August 29, 2010

There are several outstanding qualities that emerge in pianist Satoko Fujii's big band writing. She has an extraordinarily sense of color that plays upon the moist exquisiteness of muted shades, as well as recognizing and utilizing the vivid ends of her palette of colors. She also combines ingenious use of the timbre of various elements of a big band--brass, reeds and woodwinds, strings that replicate the rhythmic nature of the piano and those in the lowest register, and brilliant use ...

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Satoko Fujii ma-do: Desert Ship

by John Sharpe
June 16, 2010

Desert Ship represents the second outing by Japanese pianist Satoko Fujii's ma-do quartet, following on from the acclaimed Heat Wave (Not Two, 2008). Like its predecessor, this well-recorded studio session presents an eclectic set of nine original compositions in a 57-minute program.

Already with a discography numbering over 60 entries, Fujii has provided a catalog as diverse as it is prolific, ranging from solo to big band by way of everything in between. Her near-constant musical companion, trumpeter and husband ...