Ki to be released September 19, 2025 via Libra Records
Pianist-composer Satoko Fujii and Trumpeter-composer Natsuki Tamura Dare to Be Quietly Adventurous on Their Tenth Duo Album
“It’s rare to sense this level of intuition between musicians.” – Kurt Gottschalk, New York City Jazz Record
“They can … charm, seduce, bewilder and ease a worried mind.” – Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz
Kaze, the cooperative quartet featuring Japanese composer-pianist Satoko Fujii and trumpeter Natsuki Tamura along with French trumpeter Christian Pruvost and drummer Peter Orins, joins forces with vocalist Koichi Makigami, a legend of Japanese avant-rock and free improv, for an inspired blend of serious music-making and quirky humor on their new album Shishiodoshi. The album is out today, July 11 via Circum/Libra.
release date: 09.05.2025 on Libra Records
The brilliant pianist/composer Satoko Fujii never ceases to amaze! Message, the boisterous third album from This is It! featuring Fujii with trumpeter Natsuki Tamura, and the buoyant, unpredictable percussionist Takashi Itani, is out May 9, 2025 via Libra
Get ready for some serious, subversive fun on What happened there? the first-ever collaboration between two of improvised music’s greatest provocateurs: trumpeter Natsuki Tamura and guitarist Keiji Haino. The album is out January 24, 2025 via Libra Records.
Tamura is internationally recognized for a unique musical vocabulary that blends jazz lyricism with extended techniques in a wide variety of settings including ensembles with Satoko Fujii. Haino is a monster-free jazz, noise rock, and free improvisation player who has made music with the likes of Peter Brötzmann, John Zorn, Derek Bailey, Jim O’Rourke, and Fred Frith.
“Tamura has entered territory that no one has ever explored.” ―Masahiro Imai, Musen to Jikken
“Haino has achieved a reputation as a kind of unearthly visionary.” —Ben Ratliff, Art Forum
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
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
“…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
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!
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
Lightning, trumpeter-composer
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
