Jazz Articles about Satoko Fujii

About Satoko Fujii

Album Review

Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii: Ki

by Dan McClenaghan
September 5, 2025

The sound of Ki is deeply steeped in deliberation, dignity and old-world stateliness. This, coming from the long-term team of trumpeter Natsuki Tamura and pianist Satoko Fujii, might surprise those who have followed the duo's trajectory over its quarter-century-plus existence. Fujii and Tamura stir up musical pots and pans in a startling array of styles. Most of the dishes they cook up are avant-garde--Fujii's boisterous big band stews, Tamura's truculent treks spiced with electricity and/or extended trumpet technique tom foolery ...

Album Review

Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii / Ramon Lopez: Yama Kawa Umi

Read "Yama Kawa Umi" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
August 22, 2025

Encounters with Japanese pianist Satoko Fujii arrive with mindboggling regularity, yet her output remains remarkably immune to routine. Yama Kawa Umi reunites her with trumpeter (and husband) Natsuki Tamura and Paris-domiciled Spanish drummer Ramon Lopez, resuming the volatile chemistry first heard on Mantle (NotTwo, 2020). Across eight compositions--five by Fujii, three by Tamura--and a brief collective, the trio sculpts improvisations within shifting frameworks, where precision can erupt from apparent disorder and dissolve just as suddenly. Despite the sparse ...

Album Review

Kaze & Koichi Makigami: Shishiodoshi

Read "Shishiodoshi" reviewed by Alberto Bazzurro

by Alberto Bazzurro
August 12, 2025

Avanguardia piuttosto spinta, attraversata da un marcato gusto per l'antigrazioso di boccioniana memoria, specie in Natsuki Tamura, da sempre braccio armato del quartetto Kaze, da lui codiretto ormai da quasi un quindicennio con la moglie Satoko Fujii, e nell'ospite del succitato quartetto, Koichi Makigami (anche allo scacciapensieri, non accreditato), soprattutto allorché impegnato alla voce (a volte nella sua declinazione di canto armonico): ecco cosa ci offre questo ennesimo album della premiata ditta di cui sopra (i coniugi, intendiamo), ormai da ...

Album Review

Satoko Fujii Quartet: Dog Days Of Summer

Read "Dog Days Of Summer" reviewed by Vincenzo Roggero

by Vincenzo Roggero
August 4, 2025

Satoko Fujii e il suo quartetto non hanno certo bisogno di presentazione. Presenza imprescindibile negli ultimi quarant'anni di musica creativa, ma si potrebbe dire di musica tout court, musicista dalla produzione discografica inesauribile--ha pubblicato come leader o co-leader più di cento dischi --la pianista, compositrice, band leader giapponese ripropone il format del quartetto che nel 2001, pubblicando Vulcan, aveva inaugurato il nuovo millennio con la forza d'urto di un ciclone. Diciotto anni dopo Bacchus--la loro ultima registrazione risalente al 2007--lo ...

Album Review

Satoko Fujii: Dream a Dream

Read "Dream a Dream" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
May 10, 2025

Japanese pianist and composer Satoko Fujii has long demonstrated her ability to marshal ensembles of varying size--from intimate duos to sprawling orchestras--with an ear attuned to both spontaneity and design. On Dream A Dream, the second release from her Tokyo Trio, she reaffirms that a small group can still conjure orchestral breadth when agency and imagination run free. With bassist Takashi Sugawa and drummer Ittetsu Takemura, Fujii leads a unit whose cohesion now feels even more instinctive than on their ...

Album Review

Satoko Fujii: Altitude 1100 Meters

Read "Altitude 1100 Meters" reviewed by Neri Pollastri

by Neri Pollastri
April 28, 2025

Satoko Fujii non smette di stupirci e deliziarci con le sue creazioni a getto continuo, nelle quali spesso indaga territori fin lì inesplorati: stavolta ci offre un lavoro che la vede alla testa di un sestetto completato da un quartetto d'archi (con contrabbasso al posto del violoncello) --tipo di ensemble con cui finora non si era mai cimentata--al quale si aggiunge la batteria di Akira Horikoshi. Nato come opera celebrativa del proprio sessantacinquesimo compleanno e titolato in omaggio ...

Multiple Reviews

Satoko Fujii: Endlessly Challenging

by Doug Collette
April 3, 2025

One of contemporary jazz music's most prolific artists, pianist/composer/bandleader Satoko Fujii refuses to repeat herself except with a purpose. While she is never reticent to embark on novel adventures in composing, playing, arranging and recording, she is likewise hardly averse to revisiting previous collaborations in search of fresh inspiration in the context of the familiar. Devotees of the prolific Japanese artist may find the deepest satisfaction in her efforts with small combos such as the Tokyo Trio--more opportunity to hear ...