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Jazz Articles about Satoko Fujii
Satoko Fujii Tokyo Trio: Dream a Dream
by Dan McClenaghan
Pianist Satoko Fujii's artistic vision has held a sharp focus since her recording debut in the late '90s. She has maintained that focus in almost every jazz ensemble configuration imaginable. That unwavering focus, combined with a superhuman creative momentum, has resulted--as of 2025--in a discography of more than a hundred albums. She has been especially effective in her work with the piano trio format, opening up that door via her Satoko Fujii Trio with Mark Dresser and Jim Black, on ...
Continue ReadingNatsuki Tamura, Satoko Fujii, Ramon Lopez: Yama Kawa Umi
by Alberto Bazzurro
Il batterista franco-spagnolo Ramon Lopez, uno dei più personali della scena avant, specificatamente in quel suo approccio che definiremmo “tellurico" all'elemento percussivo, senza per questo mai esondare, si inserisce--si innesta, meglio ancora--su un duo d'arte e di vita largamente collaudato come quello formato da Satoko Fujii e Natsuki Tamura, generando un dialogo a tre voci decisamente sui generis, per la libertà che lo informa, a partire dal modo in cui vengono ribaltate le usuali gerarchie esistenti fra i tre strumenti ...
Continue ReadingSatoko Fujii GEN: Altitude 1100 Meters
by Dan McClenaghan
With over a hundred album releases in her discography, featuring solo outings and big band bashes and everything in between, pianist-composer Satoko Fujii could be thought to have “done it all." But there was a missing link. Strings. Though she had recorded in duet outings with violinists Mark Feldman and Carla Kihlstedt, she had never written for or worked with a string ensemble. Always (always, always always) up for a challenge, she convened a group she called GEN, Japanese for ...
Continue ReadingNatsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii / Ramon Lopez: Yama Kawa Umi
by Dan McClenaghan
In a nearly thirty-year career, Satoko Fujii (pianist, bandleader, composer, provocateur, sonic experimenter in the first degree) has shown herself to be one of the most daring and uncompromising artists in music. In a way, she is like Thelonious Monk in that--upon an initial experience with Monk's music (and Fujii's)--the uninitiated may not know quite what to make of what they are hearing, because neither of these artists follows a rule book. They were/are themselves. Best advice to those unfamiliar: ...
Continue ReadingSatoko Fujii: Dog Days Of Summer
by John Sharpe
With its aggressively pushy opener, full of attitude, the reunion of Japanese pianist Satoko Fujii's Quartet, last heard on Bacchus (MZCO, 2007), seems to be asking: “well, did you miss us?" Certainly there is no missing the foursome on Dog Days Of Summer, completed by regular partner Natsuki Tamura on trumpet, along with the snarling electric bass of Hayakawa Takeharu and the bombastic drums of Tatsuya Yoshida of progressive rock duo Ruins fame. Although the PR material ...
Continue ReadingJoe Fonda Quartet: Eyes on the Horizon
by Alberto Bazzurro
Quattro super-leader, fra cui anche il nostro Tiziano Tononi, per il quale far parte di questo illustre consesso rappresenta un'autentica medaglia, compongono l'organico protagonista di questo notevole album a nome del bassista (nonché, qui ma non solo qui, anche flautista) Joe Fonda, fresco settantenne, una carriera iniziata nei primi anni Ottanta proprio accanto a Wadada Leo Smith, che gli fa l'onore di tornare al suo fianco, e proseguita soprattutto accanto a Anthony Braxton (ma anche a Satoko Fujii, che qui ...
Continue ReadingSatoko Fujii: Renaissance Figure Extraordinaire
by Doug Collette
Satoko Fujii is that rare artist whose technical and intuitive talents are as readily apparent in collaboration with others as when she is working on her own. To that end, she seems bent on deeply exploring the seemingly innumerable combinations of musicians and instruments, in as wide a variety of settings available to her on both the stage and in the studio. The inspired blends of talent and skill she in turn leads, then contributes to, illustrate the breadth of ...
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