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

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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

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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

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05 Feb

[ February 9th, 2024 release via Circum-Libra: Satoko Fujii/Kaze – Unwritten ]

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The cooperative international quartet Kaze, featuring Japanese composer-pianist Satoko Fujii and trumpeter Natsuki Tamura along with French trumpeter Christian Pruvost and drummer Peter Orins, will release Unwritten, the first completely improvised album in their 13-year history, on February 9, 2024 via Circum/Libra. Recorded live in Lille, France, the album showcases the depth and connection of the musicians.

“Romantic, cacophonous, intelligent, and thoroughly without pretence.” — Steve Mossberg, Arts Fuse

“The Kaze concept shows no sign of going stale. Every time out they freshen that concept in ingenious ways.”— S. Victor Aaron, Something Else!

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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

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03 Dec

[ December the 2nd,2022 release on Bandcamp: Natsuki Tamura & Ittetsu Takemura – Lighting ]

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Lightning, trumpeter-composer Natsuki Tamura’s duet with drummer Ittetsu Takemura – a digital only release – is available today, December 2, 2022 via Bandcamp.

It’s an adrenaline rush of joyful sound. They dive headlong into the music, taking the listener along on a wild journey of exploration. The sounds and ideas come fast and furious as the two challenge one another and push things as far as they can go.

“a fresh approach to improvised music… Adventuresome and rewarding.”  — Stuart Kremsky, IAJRC Journal
“…a remarkable trumpeter, individual, lyrical and dramatic.”  ― Ray Comiskey, The Irish Times

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10 Aug

[ August the 19, 2022 release on Bandcamp: Natsuki Tamura – Iyaho]

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release date: 19.08.2022 on bandcamp

Trumpeter-composer Natsuki Tamura’s New Solo Album Iyaho Focuses on his Astonishing Vocalizing

“When he sings, it is in no known language . . . and the melodies tend toward minimal simplicity, like Buddhist chants from an alien planet.” ― Jon Davis, Exposé


“Tamura shrewdly creates a sound world that, while completely his own, also hints at the mythological and musical folklore of Asian and European cultures.” ― Ken Waxman, Jazzweekly

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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

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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

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