Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Kaze: Atody Man

11

Kaze: Atody Man

By

Sign in to view read count
Kaze: Atody Man
What was it drummer Art Blakey said about surviving in the tough, competitive business of being a jazz musician? Something along the lines of: "You're either busy appearing or you're busy disappearing." There might be something to this. Artists who release a recording every three or four years, or who tour sporadically, face the possibility of fading off and disappearing.

Japanese pianist Satoko Fujii is definitely appearing. She has tagged the year 2018—when she turns sixty years of age—as a time span in which she should release twelve albums, one per month. Who does that? Not even in the 1950s, early 1960s heyday at Blue Note Records did an artist put out a dozen albums in a year.

Let the celebration of the big Six-O roll.

Fujii began the year with Satoko Fujii Solo (Libra Records, 2018), the finest of her handful of solo recordings and a standout disc in a huge discography. If you have to pick essential Satoko Fujji recordings out of the crowd, it's one of them. Now, her second release in the twelve albums a year quest appears: Atody Man by her quartet Kaze.

Fujii's sound is unique, in any effort she puts forth; Kaze's is characteristically distinctive. The quartet features two trumpeters—Natsuki Tamura and Christian Pruvost—who combine a curious mix of blaring brashness with a quirky, sometimes whimsical feel for pure sound/noise; a rolling thunder drummer—Peter Orins—who mixes muscularity and oddball rhythmic finesse; and strikingly daring pianist who shifts from explosive percussive interludes to moments of beautiful pensive delicacy and melodic fluidity, sometimes several times within one labyrinthine composition.

The music flows from the somber to the bombastic, from chaotic to to melodic, from majestic to intensively pensive. A wild and wondrous ride, as it always is with Fujii. The most focused and accessible of her five Kaze sets.

Track Listing

Hypnotique Sympathie; Moving; Meta-Blizzard; Morning Glow; Inspiration 2; Atody Man.

Personnel

Satoko Fujii: piano; Natsuki Tamura: trumpet; Peter Orins: percussion; Christian Pruvost: trumpet.

Album information

Title: Atody Man | Year Released: 2018 | Record Label: Libra Records

Comments

Tags


For the Love of Jazz
Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who create it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

You Can Help
To expand our coverage even further and develop new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for a modest $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination will vastly improve your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

What Was Happening
Bobby Wellins Quartet
Laugh Ash
Ches Smith
A New Beat
Ulysses Owens, Jr. and Generation Y

Popular

Eagle's Point
Chris Potter
Light Streams
John Donegan - The Irish Sextet

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.