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Karl Ackermann's Best Releases of 2017
by Karl Ackermann
2017 was an exceptional year for artists who elude convention; veterans such as Wadada Leo Smith and relative newcomers like Abdul Moimême gave us unique musical insights. It was an outstanding year for solo recordings. Along with Smith and Moimême, Rob Mazurek, Matthew Shipp, Irish multi-instrumentalist Aine O'Dwyer, Cuban pianist Aruán Ortiz, Italian pianist Stefano Battaglia, ...
Satoko Fujii Orchestra New York: Fukushima
by Karl Ackermann
Satoko Fujii's Orchestra New York has been together since their 1997 debut South Wind (Leo Lab/Libra). A “super group" by any standards, it has remained largely intact over the course of twenty years, bringing the ensemble to its latest release, Fukushima, a memorial suite. The Fukushima nuclear accident was caused by a major earthquake and a ...
Satoko Fujii Quartet: Live At Jazz Room Cortez
by Karl Ackermann
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 ...
Satoko Fujii / Wadada Leo Smith / Natsuki Tamura / Ikue Mori: Aspiration
by Karl Ackermann
The soul of Gato Libre, and the glue that holds numerous global jazz orchestras together, are in the musical and personal partnership that has mastered creative music in a variety of formations and settings. Satoko Fujii and Natsuki Tamura are prolific and boundless and Aspiration is the latest of their more than sixty recordings together. Aspiration ...
Satoko Fujii / Natsuki Tamura: Kisaragi
by Karl Ackermann
As creative pairings go, there are none who surpass trumpeter Natsuki Tamura and pianist Satoko Fujii. The husband and wife team play together in various settings from Fujii's numerous orchestras (New York, Berlin, Tokyo), the quartet Kaze, and the (now) trio formation Gato Libre. The results are never predictable. Their duo outings, more often than not, ...
Gato Libre: Neko
by Karl Ackermann
Any new release from Gato Libre is a welcome event and sure to be a transcendent musical journey of simple sophistication in an unconventional structure. Neko is all those things but with the added, palpable emotion driven by a sense of loss that the group has endured yet again. Trumpeter Natsuki Tamura and life partner, pianist, ...
Gato Libre: Neko
by Dan McClenaghan
Trumpeter Natsuki Tamura's Gato Libre could now be called Gato Diferente. The group's lineup changed five albums into its journey, after the release of Forever (Libra Records, 2011), with the death of bassist Norikatsu Koreyasu. And changed again with the addition--after Norikatsu's passing--of trombonist Yasuko Kaneko. Then, in 2015, the group's guitarist, Kazuhiko Tsumura passed, leaving ...
Michael Bisio: Accortet
by John Sharpe
A history of the accordion in jazz would be a slight volume. The accordion sits midway between horn and keyboard, and perhaps it's a surprise given its versatility that it doesn't have a higher profile. Klezmer influenced companies apart, the rollcall at the exploratory end of the spectrum would include Anthony Braxton (of course), The Claudia ...
Satoko Fujii + French-Japanese Quartet Kaze Tour Australia: January 13-19, 2016 and Japan: January 23-30
Pianist Fujii Performs Solo and Duo Concert with Alister Spence January 13 in Glebe Two-trumpet ensemble Kaze unleashes storm of inventive sound with performances in Australia and Japan including Sydney, Melbourne, Kobe and Tokyo “One of the most musically dynamic and intense “jazz" sets of the year… If you think you can imagine what piano, drums, ...
