Jazz Articles about Satoko Fujii

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Satoko Fujii at the Vortex, London

by John Sharpe
June 1, 2010

Satoko Fujii and Natsuki Tamura The Vortex London 12 April 2010

When considering marital harmony, the Roman poet Ovid got it right. He said “If you would marry suitably, marry your equal." And that balanced union is exactly what the husband-and-wife team of Satoko Fujii and Natsuki Tamura has achieved. Touching down at north London's Vortex for the first UK date of a short European tour, they affirmed their breathtaking empathy as a ...

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Satoko Fujii Ma-Do: Desert Ship

by Dan McClenaghan
March 19, 2010

Pianist/bandleader Satoko Fujii's Ma-Do Quartet is loud, with a dense volume that is often stately, often fractured. The same can be said of much of her recorded output.Fujii is a stunningly prolific artist who records in a dizzying array of ensemble configurations. Of her two most notable quartets, the Ma-Do band is described as an explorer of the quieter, more subtle side of her acoustic music. It is, though, all relative. Her louder and less intimate electric Satoko ...

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Satoko Fujii Ma-Do: Desert Ship

by Troy Collins
March 11, 2010

On her 50th album as a leader/co-leader, prolific Japanese pianist Satoko Fujii reconvenes her newest acoustic quartet, Ma-Do, for its sophomore effort, Desert Ship. Following in the footsteps of 2008's brilliant Heat Wave (Not Two), this vivacious studio set continues to explore the darker regions of Fujii's oeuvre.

More heavily notated than some of Fujii's work, these labyrinthine compositions rely on a rigorous blend of intricate structure and unfettered freedom. Offsetting the quartet's predilection for massed sonorities, Fujii ...

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Minamo: Kuroi Kawa - Black River

by Budd Kopman
December 4, 2009

The astonishing double CD Kuroi Kawa--Black River finds pianist Satoko Fujii and violinist Carla Kihlstedt getting together for a second time, after Minamo (Henceforth, 2007). The earlier recording is comprised of two fortuitous live performances that were stunning in how completely at ease these two performers were with each other. Exhilarated by their remarkable chemistry, Fujii and Kihlstedt (now called Minamo) wanted to record again, but also wanted to bring something new to the experience. The result ...

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Minamo: Kuroi Kawa - Black River

by Raul d'Gama Rose
November 25, 2009

Minamo, the fiercely creative duo comprising violinist Carla Kihlstedt and pianist Satoko Fujii, has done it again. This time, the duo comes together on Kuroi Kawa - Black River, a magnificent two-CD presentation: the first, a studio set of eighteen short improvised studies of sublime ingenuity; the second, a live performance recorded at the 2008 Vancouver International Festival, featuring longer improvisations first heard on their self-titled 2008 debut, but now completely recast and newly interpreted. Minamo's musical creations echoes with ...

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Satoko Fujii - Myra Melford: Under the Water

by AAJ Italy Staff
November 9, 2009

Impermanenza, spontaneità, leggerezza, autenticità, eleganza, fluidità del pensiero musicale. Non credo siano casuali i numerosi riferimenti all'acqua nelle discografie di Satoko Fujii e Myra Melford: acqua nel disco in duo che la Fujii pubblicò nel '95 con Paul Bley, Something About Water; acqua nello splendido The Same River, Twice, album firmato dalla Melford nel '96; acqua nell'ultima fatica in trio della Fujii, Trace a River, anno di grazia 2006; acqua, infine, in questo incantevole Under the Water, meraviglioso duetto di ...

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Satoko Fujii: Chun, Heat Wave & Summer Suite

by Robert Iannapollo
September 5, 2009

Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii Chun Libra 2008 Satoko Fujii ma-do Heat Wave Not Two 2008 Satoko Fujii Orchestra New York Summer Suite Libra 2008 Pianist Satoko Fujii and husband, trumpeter Natsuki Tamura, have been performing and releasing their music since 1996, resulting in over 60 recordings in their ...