Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Satoko Fujii Ma-Do: Heat Wave

278

Satoko Fujii Ma-Do: Heat Wave

By

Sign in to view read count
Satoko Fujii Ma-Do: Heat  Wave
Ever prolific avant-garde jazz pianist Satoko Fujii has put together yet another band. She fronts numerous ensembles: a dynamic piano trio with bassist Mark Dresser and drummer Jim Black, the trio Junk Box, with drummer Jim Hollenbeck and trumpeter Natsuki Tamura, big bands in New York and Japan, a powerful rock steeped quartet and a bunch of one-off configurations, in addition to her collaborations with husband, trumpeter Natsuki Tamura—most notably as an accordionist on the three Gato Libre discs. Heat Wave, the debut release from Fujii's new quartet, Satoko Fujii Ma-Do, features an approach that focuses more on her written music and less on improvisation.

"Ma-Do" means window in Japanese, while "ma" refers to the silence between notes. Fujii says: "I wanted to name the band to show how the music opens to the outside (just like a window) and that silence has probably more meaning than notes."

Satoko Fujii Ma-Do's take on the Fujii sound is more spacious than that of her rock quartet, but is also unmistakably Fujii-esque. Unexpected twists and turns, in-your-face and pedal-to-the-metal wailing juxtapose with spare, mystical, pastoral beauty. Tamura mixes straight-ahead trumpet blowing with strange and unearthly horn sounds—sirens and frog croaks and flatulence, creaking hinges and the fluttering of wings.

Group interaction is often nuanced with the occasional old European tinge, perhaps a holdover from the Gato Libre sessions. It seems every cut features a passage of tumultuous intensity with the band breaking into semi-choreographed fist fights served up in idiosyncratic Satoko Fujii fashion.

Satoko Fujii says, "I would love to make music that no one has heard before." She's done that many times over and she does it again with Heat Wave.

Track Listing

Heat Wave; Beyond the Horizon; Mosaic; Ring a Bell; Tornado; The Squall in the Sahara; Ameoba; Spiral Staircase; To the Skies.

Personnel

Satoko Fujii: piano; Natsuki Tamura: trumpet; Norikatsu Koreyasu: bass; Akira Horikoshi: drums.

Album information

Title: Heat Wave | Year Released: 2008 | Record Label: NotTwo 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

Love Is Passing Thru
Roberto Magris
Candid
Sunny Five
Inside Colours Live
Julie Sassoon

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.