Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Satoko Fujii Quartet: Live At Jazz Room Cortez

30

Satoko Fujii Quartet: Live At Jazz Room Cortez

By

View read count
Satoko Fujii Quartet: Live At Jazz Room Cortez
As prolific as Satoko Fujii is, she has never sacrificed quality for quantity. With a half-dozen leader/co-leader releases in just the past year, no two albums have conveyed redundancy, and none have fallen short of her serious artistic standards. Following the live sessions that led to Satoko Fujii's solo recording Invisible Hand (Cortez Sound, 2017), the pianist/composer was invited back to Jazz Room Cortez in Mito, Japan for a group performance. Two extended pieces from Fujii's repertoire were chosen for Satoko Fujii Quartet—Live At Jazz Room Cortez.

As she frequently is, Fujii is paired with her husband, the trumpeter Natsuki Tamura who collaborates with her in the New York, Berlin and Tokyo Orchestras, the quartet Kaze, Gato Libre and duo recordings. Violinist Keisuke Ohta has worked in pop and rock formations, soundtracks, and on one of the earliest jazz tributes to Louis Thomas Hardin—aka Moondog—Trees Against (Shi-Ra-Nui, 1998). The unusually staffed quartet is rounded out with percussionist Takashi Itani, part of the Fujii's New Trio and her Tobira quartet.

It is from Fujii's New Trio that "Convection" originates. The version on their sole release Spring Storm (Libra, 2013) is considerably shorter that the eighteen-plus minute rendition here. The episodic treatment is steeped in abstractions, the clattering, squeaking, and moaning effects branching out and somehow congealing into a fragmented melody that brings all the players together. "Looking Out the Window," from the 1997 album of the same name, opens with its share of unconventional sounds along with voices and regional influences. At more than one half-hour in length, it provides space for a full round of solos and the long closing sequence showcases Fujii's beautifully expressive piano.

There's a sense that freedom and lyricism are always elbowing for room on Fujii's page; how she controls those instincts is a large component in her ability to craft enormously thought-provoking music. Fujii's music is—by turns—primitive, exhilarating, and sensitive, but not in a quixotic manner. It is within her well-managed eccentricities that Fujii challenges the listener with inventiveness meant for open ears.

Track Listing

Convection; Looking Out the Window.

Personnel

Satoko Fujii: piano; Natsuki Tamura: trumpet, voice; Keisuke Ohta: violin, voice; Takashi Itani: drums, percussion.

Album information

Title: Live At Jazz Room Cortez | Year Released: 2017 | Record Label: Cortez Sound

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About 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 make 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.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves 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

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

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

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.