Jazz Articles about Satoko Fujii

like 260

Satoko Fujii: Live in Japan 2004

by Kurt Gottschalk
October 22, 2005

Japanese pianist Satoko Fujii has been one of the most exciting arrangers, as well as a compelling composer and performer, in outside jazz in recent years. Unusually with the company she keeps, improvisation beyond soloing has never been a part of her work. But a recent record shows a new leaning toward improv, to varying results. Live in Japan adds to her longstanding trio of bassist Mark Dresser and drummer Jim Black her husband and increasingly frequent collaborator Natsuki Tamura. ...

like 204

Satoko Fujii Orchestra: Blueprint

by Jim Santella
February 1, 2005

With her sixteen-piece New York “West" orchestra, Satoko Fujii explodes with a free spirit and unleashed emotions. Her all-star unit of improvising artists operates cohesively in interpreting adventures for which she determines the mood. The result is a program that ranges from intense and dramatic imagery to contemporary celebrations and placid landscapes.

Fujii leads from the piano, offering key phrases that provide obvious direction. In turn, her partners jump in with responses that may be agitated, languorous, or ...

like 227

Satoko Fujii Orchestra Nagoya Version: Nagoyanian

by Eyal Hareuveni
January 29, 2005

Pianist and composer Satoko Fujii leads three different bands under the title of the East Orchestra--one in Tokyo, the other in Kobe, and the wildest one in Nagoya, which is just now releasing its debut outing on guitarist and producer Yasuhiro Usui's new label, Bakamo. This sixteen-piece orchestra features Fujii's partner and close musical collaborator, trumpeter Natsuki Tamura; tenor saxophonist Kenichi Matsumoto; and baritone saxophonist Ryuichi Yoshida, who played with other versions of the East Orchestra ( Double Take, EWE ...

like 186

Satoko Fujii Orchestra: Blueprint

by Jerry D'Souza
January 22, 2005

Ideas flow by the brimful for Satoko Fujii. If her spate of recordings is not enough evidence, then take a look at the bands she heads. There's the Orchestra East and the Orchestra West (divided between Japan and the USA), the trio with Jim Black and Mark Dresser, her Quartet, and her solo work. You get the picture. Her new venture is with the New York big band, which comes full circle in a dazzling display of composition and improvisation.

like 212

Satoko Fujii Orchestra: Blueprint

by Dan McClenaghan
January 15, 2005

Japanese-born pianist Satoko Fujii's Blueprint, featuring her New York Orchestra, opens with the title cut, a hard-driving, dark-toned, stop-time tune full of gathering momentum and menace, giving the impression of a world plummeting in the direction of chaos--though it never quite goes there. It's the same feeling one gets in listening to Dumas' “The Sorcerer's Apprentice," done most famously for the Disney film Fantasia --the sentient brooms relentlessly bringing buckets upon buckets of water, out of control but for their ...

like 217

Satoko Fujii Trio: Illusion Suite

by Jim Santella
November 3, 2004

Jazz's modern mainstream continues to grow with the help of creative artists such as those featured on this lively session. Pianist Satoko Fujii leads with a powerful force that captivates. Accessible for traditional bebop as well as avant-garde listeners, her music stirs the imagination. Scenes of various emotional themes cast a long shadow over the trio's work. Containing ample space between changes in mood, her interpretations have plenty of room to breathe.

Bassist Mark Dresser expresses with myriad ...

like 240

Satoko Fujii Trio: Illusion Suite

by Dan McClenaghan
September 11, 2004

Nobody does the piano trio thing like Satoko Fujii. Almost every other effort out there in this category can be related to Bill Evans, Thelonious Monk, Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner... to name just a few. With Fujii, the sound is a category of its own. Free, to be sure, with classical tinges, an the occasional influence of rock--though this is more apparent in her quartet work.I'll flip-flop here (to use a currently popular verb): though my first experience ...