“When I play with Myra, I always feel like I am having a conversation with my close friend,” says pianist Satoko Fujii when talking about Katarahi, her duo album with Myra Melford recorded live at the 2024 Jazz Festival Leibnitz and released May 8, 2026, via RogueArt.
The title of this album was suggested by Satoko Fujii. It’s a Japanese word meaning a heart-to-heart conversation between intimate friends (what a lovely thing to have a word for!). She chose it, “because when I play with Myra, I always feel like I am having a conversation with my close friend.” Clearly, Melford feels the same way. It’s rare to hear music in which both participants are so present in the moment and where the deepest truths of the heart are revealed so openly.
Melford and Fujii share a history together that is longer than their recordings might indicate. Katarahi is just their second album as a duo, after their 2007 debut, Under the Water (Libra). Two albums in nearly twenty years might make it seem like this is a rare event, but such is not the case.
Fujii was a student at New England Conservatory studying with Paul Bley in 1994 when he introduced her to Melford at a Melford solo concert in Boston. They have maintained a friendship over the years since then. Their desire to play together finally became a reality in January 2007 when Fujii arranged a duo concert while Melford was visiting a friend in Tokyo. A second concert at Maybeck recital hall in Berkeley, Calif., followed in September of that year. Since then, despite the comparatively few concert venues with two pianos available, Fujii says, “I think we played together twice or three times in Japan, twice in America, twice in Italy, Belgium, Poland, and Austria. I guess we have a history!”
photo: Michele Giotto
Their first album was entirely improvised, but for Katarahi they each contribute compositions. “I think we found over the years that having some predetermined material was valuable in helping us to shape the different vocabulary and approaches we each have to improvise into a common vision,” Melford says. “We have a great affinity with, and for, each other’s playing, and choosing compositions that allow for a lot of freedom in how we play them seemed to be a great solution for providing a common focus over the course of the concert. For my compositions, I wanted to suggest simple structures that provide multiple approaches for development, a balance between having a common focus and plenty of freedom of expression.”
Fujii took a similar compositional approach to the duo. “I brought both old pieces and new ones that I composed for this duo to set a mood and direction,” Fujii says. “We both write a lot of music, and I enjoy playing her compositions. It’s a great way to get a musical direction and ideas.”
So, the compositions provide structure, but improvisation – the intimate dialogue– forms the heart of their music. “Satoko has such a strong sense of narrative in how she develops her improvisations –I’m always so impressed by this when I listen to her solo playing,” Melford says. “And she brings that same intensity of focus to our duo. She’s a great listener and her response time is immediate. She’s so present in the moment that it’s easy to connect and build the music together.”
“Myra is amazing,” Fujii says. “She listens carefully to my playing and always plays the right thing at the right moment. We share similar music values, but we are very different performers.” The entire album, recorded live at the 2024 Jazz Festival Leibnitz, could be described as a deep, and especially beautiful, musical conversation. It is also something more. It’s customary on duet recordings to mention who is playing on the right channel and who on the left in order to help identify who plays what. However, Fujii and Melford don’t want that mentioned. First of all, they switched pianos (that is sides) during the concert, so it would be cumbersome to note. More importantly, the responsibility for creating the music is so mutual that noting individual contributions is almost beside the point—the sum is so much greater than the parts.
For instance, “Interlude” develops as a thoughtful exchange of ideas, deliberately stated and with mutual respect. But as the piece develops, the pianists interlace their lines, maintaining a perfect balance between them, and generating an organic whole larger than the single contribution of either. Call and response also open “Signpost” but soon evolves into simultaneous improvisations. Melford and Fujii perform as two equal voices, neither one predominates. If there is any leader, it is the music itself, which carries them into unfettered interactions that grow more elaborate and unconstrained. “Pairs” is perhaps the widest ranging of the duets, starting on the edge of audibility and wandering through digressions until climaxing with high energy outbursts. Again, the equality of the partnership is notable. Neither pianist imitates or follows the other, but the music each makes could not exist without the other. Trust and openness are hallmarks of their work together. Melford’s “Chalk” is an excellent example of how well the duo uses the composition to guide a performance. It’s a medium-tempo lyrical melody whose mood is not entirely lost even when they speed things up. Each in their own way pushes the materialin new directions, but they stay connected by using the written line as a reference point throughout. Val Wilmer famously described pianist Cecil Taylor’s style as “88 tuned drums.” On “Kaiwa” we have twice that many. A barrage of rapid lines chasing each other around starts things out. Dampened strings change the timbre or shorten the decay of individual notes, highlighting their percussive attack. But for all its urgency and cathartic, explosive sounds, the music is buoyant, emerging not from darkness or anger, but from compassion and an overabundance of life. The climactic efflorescence of thundering note clusters and waves of rapid lines explode on the listener as a concatenation of empathy and joy.
There are an infinite number of ways to touch a piano key to shape and color the resulting notes. Fujii and Melford explore many of the possibilities on “IV”. There’s a multiplicity of shapes and colors in the opening minutes –notes that are delicate and rock hard, opaque and translucent, notes and tones of different timbre and weights. There’s also an awareness of how respectfully and intentionally one must break silence. Every note is played with purpose and humility and reminds us of our need to communicate with one another on a sincere and honest level.
Fujii’s “From Sometime” concludes the disc with a spritely dance of leaping and skipping notes and sounds. It doesn’t exactly convey happiness, but something more spiritual. It expresses the presence of a lifeforce stronger than death, and conjures joy deeper than sorrow –the mysterious force that triumphs by means of fearless self-knowledge and love.
– Ed Hazell
Satoko Fujii, Myra Melford – かたらひ (KATARAHI)
Recorded live on September 27th 2024 at Jazzfestival Leibnitz, Leibnitz, Austria
February 2026
Release date May 8, 2026
# # #