13 Nov

[ November the 15th, 2024 release via Long Song Records: Joe Fonda Quartet – Eyes on the Horizon ]

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Eyes on the Horizon, bassist/composer Joe Fonda’s powerful tribute to his former teacher and mentor Wadada Leo Smith, will be released on November 15, 2024 via Long Song Records.

Featuring Fonda, Smith, pianist Satoko Fujii, and drummer Tiziano Tononi, it is a gift given by a mature artist out of respect to another whose example of artistic integrity, perseverance, and ongoing creativity continues to inspire him to this day.

“a real virtuoso and composer of the highest order.” — Anthony Braxton

“Fonda is a serious seeker of new musical horizons.” — Boston Phoenix

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

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!

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

09 Nov

[ November 10th, 2023 release on Jazzdor Records Trio SAN – Hibiki ]

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Trio San, featuring pianist-composer Satoko Fujii, mallet virtuoso Taiko Saito, and master drummer Yuko Oshima showcase their immediate and profound group chemistry on their debut album Hibiki out November 10, 2023 via Jazzdor Records. Recorded near the end of a European tour, Hibiki finds them immersed deeply in their own private musical world, a world full of delicate beauty, thunderous energy, and sudden surprises.

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

“Oshima’s rigorously developing rudiments, as well as wild crescendos and diminuendos, seem to tell a stor ywith every stroke.” – Tampere Jazz Happening

“Saito celebrates mystery, clarity of vision, and rejection of blueprints and “best-laid plans” in favor of discovery and surprise combined with a wide-ranging sense of wonder.” – Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz

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

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