16 Mar

[ March the 17th,2023 release via Circum/Libra: Satoko Fujii’s Kaze and Ikue Mori – Crustal Movement ]

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The pioneering musician Ikue Mori on laptop electronics joins Kaze – the cooperative quartet featuring Japanese composer-pianist Satoko Fujii and trumpeter Natsuki Tamura plus French trumpeter Christian Pruvost and drummer– for their innovative new album Crustal Movement, out March 17, 2023 via Circum/Libra. Album is a visceral, richly textured hybrid of pre-recorded music files exchanged during pandemic and live performance

“[Their music is] a well-judged amalgam of adventurous and empathetic ensemble playing, and striking individual flights,”—John Sharpe, All About Jazz

“So intriguing that you’ll listen to it as music, not noise, and you’ll start to think about the relationship between music and sound and then . . . you’ll be hooked–just as I am.”—Marc Phillips, The Vinyl Anachronist

04 Feb

[ February the 9th, 2023 release via Ayler Records: Satoko Fujii & Otomo Yoshihide – Perpetual Motion]

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Two giants of the Japanese avant-garde – pianist Satoko Fujii and guitarist Otomo Yoshihide – meet for the first time on Perpetual Motion, out February 9, 2023 via Ayler Records.

Recorded live at the Pit Inn in Tokyo, the concert was the first time these acclaimed musicians had performed together. There’s an immediate chemistry between these two intrepid shapers of sound.

12 Jul

[ July the 12th, 2022 release on bandcamp exclusive: Natsuki Tamura and Gato Libre – Sleeping Cat ]

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“ghostly, poetic sound filling the air with great beauty.” ― Philip Johnson, The Independent

“a fresh approach to improvised music… Adventuresome and rewarding.” — Stuart Kremsky, IAJRC Journal

Trumpeter-composer Natsuki Tamura’s newest Gato Libre album, Sleeping Cat, is part of an ambitious yearlong marathon of multiple new releases by the Japanese brass player. Available exclusively on Bandcamp

12 Nov

[ November the 19th, 2021 release via Libra Records – Satoko Fujii & Taiko Saito FUTARI Duo – Underground ]

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release date: 19.11.2021 via Libra Records

Pianist-composer Satoko Fujii and mallet virtuoso Taiko Saito delve deeper into their duo project with the help of the Internet to make “real, free art”

“The always adventurous pianist-composer teams with vibraphonist Taiko Saito . . . for a beautifully surreal journey.”—Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz

“Saito and Fujii are one-of-their-kind adventurous and highly imaginative improvisers. It is clear that Fujii found in Saito a musical partner that can navigate her into uncharted sonic territories.”—Eyal Hareumeni, Salt Peanuts

Half a world away from each other, pianist-composer Satoko Fujii and vibraphonist Taiko Saito recapture the delicate intensity of their duo, Futari, on their new CD, Underground.

09 Nov

[ November the 19th, 2021 release via Libra Records – Satoko Fujii’s This is It! Trio – Mosaic ]

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release date: 19.11.2021 via Libra Records

Pianist-composer Satoko Fujii records live via the internet for the first time with her trio “This Is It!”

“…can’t get much closer to improvisational music perfection” — Victor Aaron, Something Else!

“This project…has lifted her artistry to a new level…. Always fresh, always adventurous.” — Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz

12 Sep

[ September the 17th, 2021 release via Libra Records: Satoko Fujii – Piano Music ]

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release date: 17.09.2021 via Libra Records

Pianist-composer Satoko Fujii’s Bold Experiment with Sound Collage and Prepared Piano

“…magical, unfamiliar sounds that can stimulate your sense of wonder and affect your emotions . . .” — Barry Witherden, Jazz Journal

“Fujii’s music troubles the divide between abstraction and realism. Plucking or scraping the strings of the piano; covering them up as she strikes the keys…. All of this amounts to abstract expressionism, in musical form. But it’s equaled by her rich sense of simplicity, sprung from the feeling that she is simply converting the riches of the world around her into music.”
—Giovanni Russonello, New York Times

Pianist-composer Satoko Fujii is often quoted as saying that she “wants to make music no one has heard before.” She more than fulfills that goal on her latest solo album, Piano Music, out September 17 via Libra Records. Using short pre-recorded snippets of her prepared piano music, she edits them together to create a patchwork quilt of unique sonorities. The results are unlike anything she has done before—two extended pieces of otherworldly piano sounds and melodies that evolve so smoothly and organically you can’t tell they’re stitched together from smaller fragments.

02 May

[ May the 7th, 2021 release via Libra Records: Satoko Fujjii’s Tokyo Trio – Moon on the Lake ]

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release date: 04.05.2021 via Libra Records

“The music rattles the bones as often as it soothes the soul and no composer is more masterful at balancing and grounding those extremes…continually absorbing and unlike anything else.”

– Karl Ackermann, All About Jazz

Pianist-composer Satoko Fujii brings together a new piano trio on her latest release Moon on the Lake captured live at Tokyo’s famous jazz venue, Pit Inn. The Tokyo Trio features Fujii with two of the most in-demand younger musicians on the Japanese jazz scene, bassist Takashi Sugawa and drummer Ittetsu Takemura. They form a lithe, quick witted trio, capable of terrific speed and excitement as well as subtle textures and tone colors. Moon on the Lake puts their wide range and capabilities on full display

02 Apr

[ April the 9th,2021 release via Libra Records: Satoko Fujii & Natsuki Tamura – Keshin ]

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release date: 09.04.2021 via Libra Records

“ The wife-husband team from Japan . . . consistently reveals a wide-open and unpredictable nature that makes its performance a thrilling ride for the listener.” – Steve Feeney, Portland Press Herald

“ Intuition and communication like that is rare.” – Adam Kinner, The Montreal Gazette

12 Mar

[ March the 19th, 2021 release via Libra Records: Satoko Fujii – Hazuki ]

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release date: 19.03.2021 via Libra Records

“She could be the most important creative musician of our time.” ― Michael Nastos, AllMusic

“Over the decades, Japanese pianist Satoko Fujii has demonstrated uncanny power and musicality . . . This music is infused with a wide-open spirit.” — Josef Woodard, DownBeat

Pianist-composer Satoko Fujii normally spends months on the road each year, but the COVID-19 pandemic has made touring impossible. On her new solo album, Hazuki, she lets the music travel for her.

10 Jan

[ January the 22nd, 2021 release via Libra Records: Satoko Fujji & Taiko Saito Futari – Beyond ]

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release date: 22.01.2021 via Libra Records

“Persistent and inexhaustible imagination with emotion, power and everything else…[Fujii] does not leave a single second to be bored or indifferent.” – Phontas Troussas, Vinylmine

“Taiko not only displayed exceptional technique, but more importantly she projected her own voice on an instrument that dares one to uncover . . . even more impressive was her daring to dive in some uncharted waters which she glided through with ease.”—Mike Mainieri, vibraphonist

Beyond, the recorded debut of Futari, a duo of pianist-composer Satoko Fujii and vibraphonist Taiko Saito, features lyrical intensity from two fearless explorers of new sounds. The combination of piano and vibes is an uncommon one, but Fujii and Saito navigate the new terrain of their collaboration with imagination and a spirit of adventure.