08 Sep

[ September 13th, 2024 release on Libra Records: Satoko Fujii Quartet – Dog Days of Summer ]

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On Dog Days of Summer pianist/composer Satoko Fujii reconvenes her fearlessly adventurous avant jazz-rock quartet after an 18-year pause. Out September 13, 2024 via Libra Records, the band’s sixth album features Fujii with trumpeter Natsuki Tamura, bassist Takeharu Hayakawa, and drummer Tatsuya Yoshida.

“Satoko does a great job of writing challenging, quick-changing, progressive/jazz/rock music that this daredevil quartet excels at playing… As always, Satoko Fujii and her extraordinary quartet deliver the goods and keep all of us smiling.” — Bruce Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery

“Fujii’s sound world is a kaleidoscope, and those familiar with her work have come to expect the unexpected. If any artist can be said to meet expectations by upsetting them, she’s one.” — Mike Chamberlain, Coda

02 Jul

[ July 12th, 2024 release on Libra Records: Satoko Fujii & Natsuki Tamura – Aloft ]

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Pianist/composer Satoko Fujii and trumpeter/composer Natsuki Tamura release their ninth duo album Aloft on July 12, 2024 via Libra Records. After nearly 30 years of working together, the wife/husband duo showcases an ever-deepening ability to create and explore new sounds that borders on telepathic.

“It seems—in the studio or on the stage—that Fujii and Tamura think as one.” – Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz

“a thrilling ride for the listener” – Steve Feeney, Portland Press Herald

17 May

[ May 17th, 2024 release via Libra Records: Natsuki Tamura & Jim Black – NatJim ]

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Trumpeter-composer Natsuki Tamura’s Exuberant Duet with Drummer Jim Black Explores the Joy of Spontaneous Music Making

“…Tamura’s trumpet is lyrically beautiful and commanding.” ― Andy Hamilton, Wire

“Tamura controls the tone of his trumpet at will and he has entered territory that no one has ever explored.” ― Masahiro Imai, Musen to Jikken

NatJim to be released May 17, 2024 via Libra Records

21 Jan

[ January 26th, 2024 release via Libra Records: Satoko Fujii’s Tokyo Trio – Jet Black ]

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With Jet Black, Pianist and Composer Satoko Fujii’s Tokyo Trio Takes Its Place Among the Great Piano Trios of Our Time. Trio’s new recording to be released January 26, 2024 via Libra Records.

“Satoko Fujii’s Tokyo Trio isn’t even close to being a conventional jazz trio . . . But it is a Satoko Fujii ensemble in every sense, with the grace, sophistication, surprise and ingenuity found in every other of her ensembles. Only this time in a small, nimble, and deceptively familiar construction.” — Victor Aaron, Something Else!

“a beautifully present trio that speaks to us now and no doubt will stand the test of time . . .” — Grego Applegate Edwards, Gapplegate Music Review

01 Jun

[ June the 2nd, 2023 release via Libra Records – Satoko Fujii’s Piano Solo – Torrent ]

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Pianist-composer Satoko Fujii’s Vibrant New Solo CD Showcases the Full Range of Her Artistry

“Unpredictable, wildly creative, and uncompromising … Fujii is an absolutely essential listen for anyone interested in the future of jazz.” ―Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz

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

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

01 Feb

[ February the 11th, 2022 release on Libra Records: Natsuki Tamura- Summer Tree ]

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release date: 11.02.2022 via Libra Records

“extremely beautiful music, defined by its intelligence and risk.” ― Jason Bivins, Cadence

“wondrous facility and articulation,… a musical sense of humor … a fresh approach to improvised music… Adventuresome and rewarding.” — Stuart Kremsky, IAJRC Journal

Trumpeter-composer Natsuki Tamura adds a new dimension to his unaccompanied music, several in fact, on his new multi-tracked solo album, Summer Tree. Only his fifth solo album in a career that has spanned more than five decades, Summer Tree displays all the inventiveness, lyricism, and wit as his previous solo albums, but with a few new wrinkles. For the first time, he

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

01 Jul

[ July the 9th, 2021 release via Libra Records: Natsuki Tamura’s Koki Solo ]

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release date: 09.07.2021

“Tamura tempers his avant-garde antics with an innate lyricism.” — Steve Smith, Time Out New York

“You’ll never fit trumpeter Natsuki Tamura into any pre-fab category, he creates his own, then pulls you into them with him.”—Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz

“Captured on disc is an artist who is technically brilliant, academically and classically trained, but as free as a sudden thunderstorm that appears out of nowhere and rains profusely onto the outdoor bandstand. Instead of running from the storm, we sit in rapt attention, and get soaked in his jazz lyricism and daring creativity. No one even opens an umbrella as the elephants come stampeding towards us.” – Dee Dee McNeil, Musicalmemoir’s Blog