The Squid's Ear Magazine


Fujii, Satoko: Piano Music (Libra)

A stunning sound collage made from recorded fragments of Fujii's studio piano, captured inside and out using traditional piano sonorities and preparations that often microscopically detail the instrument, then edited into two electroacoustic compositions of startling and unexpected expansiveness and wonder; a unique and fascinating release in Fujii's large oeuvre.
 

Price: $16.95



Quantity:

In Stock

Quantity in Basket: None

Log In to use our Wish List
Shipping Weight: 2.00 units

Sample The Album:





product information:

Personnel:



Satoko Fujii-piano, editing


Click an artist name above to see in-stock items for that artist.




UPC: 456162308678

Label: Libra
Catalog ID: 201-067
Squidco Product Code: 30994

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2021
Country: Japan
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded at the artist's home in Kobe city, Japan, in March, 2021.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Pianist-composer Satoko Fujii is often quoted as saying that she "wants to make music no one has heard before." She more than fulfills that goal on her latest solo album, Piano Music. Using short pre-recorded snippets of her prepared piano music, she edits them together to create a patchwork quilt of unique sonorities. The results are unlike anything she has done before-two extended pieces of otherworldly piano sounds and melodies that evolve so smoothly and organically you can't tell they're stitched together from smaller fragments.

"I started recording in my small piano room during the pandemic and while I was editing the recordings, I got this idea," Fujii explains. "I thought I could put together small parts to make a big work, fitting the pieces together the way I wanted to. I could make music like building with Legos. This may not be a new thing for many creators, but for me it was new because I am a very analog piano player.

"To create my 'Legos,' I recorded short improvisations using one idea for each, like 'plucking strings,' 'Ebow on high strings,' 'rubbing low strings with a big felt mallet,' or 'dropping chop sticks on the piano strings.' Each was less than one or two minutes," she continues. "The materials I recorded are all so short that without shifting them around, they don't make any sense. "Then I transferred these parts into my music editing application. Putting together the small parts into a larger picture was just like improvising," she continues. "I would play a section and most of the time without pausing, I would just drag the next part that I wanted to follow it. I could spontaneously make the longer piece in real time. I learned a lot musically with this process because I found I have a tendency to change the scene too quickly. I kept telling myself, 'Take your time. Take your time.'"

In fact, the opening track, "Shiroku" (meaning "white" in Japanese), does take its time unfolding. Sustained drones are the sonic thread that connects sequences of tones and sounds, each one lovely and strange, like a necklace of pearls. Each richly textured note, high crinkling sound, soft wave of white noise, and rhythmic tinkling is beautiful, but the logic and order behind their occurrence remains elusive, even though you sense it is there. It's like observing a mysterious natural process.

"Fuwarito" (which means "softly and lightly") organizes itself around wave patterns that swell and recede rather than sustained drones, and the phrases are shorter and more rhythmic. She creates a swirling cloud of sounds with sparkling tones, woody rattles, and metallic plucks dissolving within it.

"I would like to be free in the music to do whatever I want and I made this music in a way I have never done before," Fujii says. "Of course, I love playing piano, but I think it's not the only way for me to make music."

Critics and fans alike hail pianist and composer Satoko Fujii as one of the most original voices in jazz today. "Across all of Fujii's work, contradictions come into balance; though her music is abstract and sometimes wild, each element shimmers with clarity," writes Giovanni Russonello in his New York Times feature article. "In situations large and small, her tender attention to detail is equaled by her ability to convey enormous breadth and textural range."

In concert and nearly 100 albums as a leader or co-leader, she synthesizes jazz, contemporary classical, avant-rock, and folk musics into an innovative style instantly recognizable as hers alone. A prolific band leader and recording artist, she celebrated her 60th birthday in 2018 by releasing one album a month from bands old and new, from solo to large ensemble. Franz A. Matzner in All About Jazz likened the twelve albums to "an ecosystem of independently thriving organisms linked by the shared soil of Fujii's artistic heritage and shaped by the forces of her creativity."

Over the years, Fujii has led some of the most consistently creative ensembles in modern improvised music, including her trio with bassist Mark Dresser and drummer Jim Black and an electrifying avant-rock quartet featuring drummer Tatsuya Yoshida of The Ruins. Her ongoing duet project with husband Natsuki Tamura released their eighth recording, Keshin, earlier this year. "The duo's commitment to producing new sounds based on fresh ideas is second only to their musicianship," says Karl Ackermann in All About Jazz.

As the leader of no less than five orchestras in the U.S., Germany, and Japan, Fujii has also established herself as one of the world's leading composers for large jazz ensembles, leading Cadence magazine to call her, "the Ellington of free jazz."-Libra



This album has been reviewed on our magazine:

The Squid
The Squid's Ear!

Artist Biographies

"Born on October 9, 1958 in Tokyo, Japan, Fujii began playing piano at four and received classical training until twenty, when she turned to jazz. From 1985-87, she studied at Boston's Berklee College of Music, where her teachers included Herb Pomeroy and Bill Pierce. She returned to Japan for six years before returning to the US to study at the New England Conservatory in Boston, where her teachers included George Russell, Cecil McBee, and Paul Bley, who appeared on her debut CD Something About Water (Libra, 1996).

Since then Fujii has been an innovative bandleader and soloist, a tireless seeker of new sounds, and a prolific recording artist in ensembles ranging from duos to big bands. She has showcased her astonishing range and ability approximately 80 CDs as leader or co-leader. With each new recording or new band, she explores new aspects of her art.

Regular collaborations include her New York trio with bassist Mark Dresser and drummer Jim Black, augmented by trumpeter/husband Natsuki Tamura to form the Satoki Fujii Four; her duo with Tamura; the Satoko Fujii Quartet featuring Tatsuya Yoshida of the Japanese avant-rock duo, The Ruins; Orchestra New York, which boasts the cream of New York's contemporary avant garde improvisers, including saxophonists Ellery Eskelin and Tony Malaby, trumpeters Herb Roberton and Steven Bernstein, and trombonist Curtis Hasselbring, among others; Orchestra Tokyo, drawing on that city's best improvisers; Orchestra Nagoya; Orchestra Kobe; the co-operative trio Junk Box with Tamura and percussionist John Hollenbeck; ma-do, a quartet including Tamura on trumpet, bassist Norikatsu Koreyasu, and Akira Horikoshi; the Min-Yoh Ensemble with Tamura, trombonist Hasselbring, and accordionist Andrea Parkins; the Satoko Fujii New Trio, featuring bassist Todd Nicholson and drummer Takashi Itani― plus countless engagements and collaborations with some of the world's most important improvisers."

-Satoko Fujii Website (http://www.satokofujii.com/bio.html)
3/25/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. Shiroku 18:59

2. Fuwarito 27:01

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Electro-Acoustic
Electroacoustic Composition
Organized Sound and Sample Based Music
Satoko Fujii & Natsuki Tamura's Libra Label
Solo Artist Recordings
Staff Picks & Recommended Items
New in Experimental & Electronic Music

Search for other titles on the label:
Libra.


Recommended & Related Releases:
Fujii, Satoko Tokyo Trio (Fujii / Sugawa / Takemura)
Jet Black
(Libra)
A trio of leaders in their own right performing pianist Satoko Fujii's demanding compositions, bassist Takashi Sugawa and drummer Ittetsu Takemura rise to the challenge in a set of six exciting works that push and pull this remarkable piano trio in unexpected directions, responding to the twists and turns of Fujii's intense and intricate directions; superlative!
Kaze (Satoko Fujii / Natsuki Tamura / Christian Pruvost / Peter Orins)
Unwritten
(Circum-Libra / Libra)
The Kaze quartet of trumpeter Natsuki Tamura, pianist Satoko Fujii, trumpeter & flugelhorn player Christian Pruvost and drummer Peter Orins, continues its avant-embracing and uniquely voiced project with this live performance at Lille, France, an episodic and spontaneously diverse set of three collective improvisations of intuitive, adventurous interaction.
Kaze with Satoko Fujii / Natsuki Tamura / Christian Pruvost / Peter Orins & Ikue Mori
Crustal Movement
(Circum-Libra)
The cooperative Japanese/French quartet Kaze of pianist Satoko Fujii, trumpeter Natsuki Tamura, trumpeter Christian Pruvost and drummer Peter Orins are expanded for a second time with New York electronic artist Ikue Mori, embracing pandemic restrictions by creating this album through file exchange, adding complex layers of profound interaction to the virtual improvisations.
Fujii, Satoko / Otomo Yoshihide
Perpetual Motion
(Ayler Records)
Expanding their instruments into sonic sculpture, this first meeting between acclaimed Japanese improvisers Satoko Fujii, performing inside and out of the piano, and electric guitarist Otomo Yoshihide, demonstrates their incredible compatibly as heard in these live recordings at Tokyo's Pit Inn, part of an annual festival organized by Fujii & trumpeter Natsuki Tamura.
Tamura, Natsuki
Summer Tree
(Libra)
A stunning album of solo trumpet performance from Natsuki Tamura, who's name in Japanese translates as 'Natsu' meaning 'summer' and 'Ki' means 'tree', performed as layers of remarkable technique led by clarion playing over trumpet drones, sonic turbulence and percussive interaction on a wok, each layer using his extended vocabulary without studio manipulation.
Fujii, Satoko / Joe Fonda
Thread Of Light
(Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Sluchaj!))
The enduring and innately lyrical collaboration of Japanese pianist Satoko Fujii and NY bassist Joe Fonda, first heard in 2016 with Duet, through 2019's Four with trumpeter Natsuki Tamura, continues despite the constraints of a pandemic in these 10 improvisations recorded separately in Kobe and at Fonda's home, with Fonda also performing on cello & flute.
Fujii, Satoko ma-do
Heat Wave
(Not Two)
Satako Fujii's 2008 release introducing her then new ma-do quartet of Satoko Fujii on piano, Natsuki Tamura on trumpet, Akira Horikoshi on drums, and late bassist Norikatsu Koreyasu, the band name signifying "window" and "the silence between notes", in an album of superb, lively, eclectic and absolutely exciting improvisation from 9 original Fujii compositions.
Wandering The Sound Quintet (Satoko Fujii / Guillermo Gregorio / Natsuki Tamuyra / Rafat Mazur / Ramon Lopez)
What Is...?
(Not Two)
The first Wandering The Sound album in 2018 was the trio of Argentinian reedist Guillermo Gregorio, Spanish drummer Ramón López and Polish bassist Rafał Mazur, here extended to a quintet with pianist Satoko Fujii and trumpeter Natsuki Tamura for a 2019 concert at Alchemia in Poland, a masterful example of free improv based on a poem by Ikkyu Sojun, a Zen master from the 15th century.
Tamura, Natsuki / Satoko Fujii
Keshin
(Libra)
An album of duets between trumpeter Natsuki Tamura and pianist Satoko Fujii, the husband & wife core of Libra Records, recorded as a DIY effort during the 2020 pandemic in their own home recording space and mixed by themselves, a diverse album of intimate and impressive improvisations that find the two in uniquely deep and expressively concentrative conversations.
Fujii, Satoko
Hazuki
(Libra)
With the sudden cessation of touring due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Satoko Fujii turned to composing and recording herself in a home studio that she developed with the help of sound engineer Mike Marciano, freeing herself to explore new compositional methods and approaches to theory, this superb solo album the results of seven months of sublime self-expression.
Tamura, Natsuki / Satoko Fujii / Ramon Lopez
Mantle
(Not Two)
While on a tour of Japan in 2019, Japanese pianist Satoko Fujii and Spanish drummer Ramon Lopez asked trumpeter Natsuki Tamura to join them, and to join in a challenge to write a new piece of music for the trio each day while on tour; this studio album selects the finest of those compositions, performed with nearly telepathic control in a mix of fire and lyrical beauty.
Gato Libre (Tamura / Fjuii / Kaneko)
Koneko
(Libra)
The 8th album from Gato Libre with compositions from trumpeter Natsuki Tamura in a trio with Yasuko Kaneko on trombone and pianist Satoko Fujii here on accordion, Koneko translating to "Kitten", as Tamura explores 8 new cats from strays to shop cats through deceptively simple pieces of melodic appeal of warm color, tone & texture; absolutely charming.
Fujii, Satoko / Orchestra New York
Entity
(Libra)
Satoko Fujii leads her 13-piece big band through 5 thrilling and insightful compositions with a who's-who of NY improvisation: Nels Cline (guitar), Ches Smith (drums), Joe Fiedler & Curt Hasselbring (drums), Oscar Noriega, Ellery Eskelin, Briggan Krauss, Andy Laster & Tony Malaby (sax), Herb Robertson, Natsuki Tamura & Dave Ballou (trumpet) & bassist Stomu Takeishi; wow!
Fujii, Satoko / Ramon Lopez
Confluence
(Libra)
Having played in trio settings before, pianist Satoko Fujii and Spanish drummer Ramon Lopez seized the opportunity to record as a duo in the studio in NY, bringing just two Fujii compositions to guide them, they began freely improvising, creating this stunning album of elegant interaction, peaceful yet detailed, intuitively beautiful and sophisticated music.
Fujii, Satoko
Diary 2005-2015 [Scorebook]
(Libra)
A book of scores to accompany the double CD of 56 Satoko Fujii compostions titled "Diary 2005-2015", performed by respected classical pianist and educator Yuko Yamaoka, released as part of Satoko Fujii's ambitious 60th birthday monthly album set.
Amu (Fujii / Tamura / Itani / Wildenhahn)
Weave [CD & DVD]
(Libra)
Mizuki Wildenhahn adds an unusual percussive instrument through dance to the multi-arts Amu quartet of Wildenhahn, trumpeter Natsuki Tamura, pianist Satoko Fujii, and percussionist Takashi Itani, heard on the CD and seen on the DVD of this 2-disc set of their unorthodox and absorbing live performance at Kanagawa Prefectural Lake Sagami-ko Exchange Center in 2018.
This Is It! (Satoko Fujii / Natsuki Tamura / Takashi Itani)
1538
(Libra)
Part of pianist Satoko Fujii's "Kanreki" (60th Birthday) tour and monthly album release, the "This Is It!" Trio with trumpeter Natsuki Tamura and drummer/percussionist Takashi Itani is heard at Koendori Classics, in Tokyo, Japan, in January 2018, for an incredible album of Fujii's compositions that include quirky asides in coherent and effusive playing.
Kira Kira (Tamura / Spence / Fujii / Takemura)
Bright Force
(Libra)
Since 2007 Japanese pianist Satoko Fujii and Australian keyboardist Alister Spence have collaborated on performance and recording in several configurations, including work with Tony Buck, Raymond McDonald, Jim O'Rourke, &c.; this energetic and otherworldly quartet session with trumpeter Natsuki Tamura and drummer Ittetsu Takemura was recored live Knuttel House, in Tokyo, 2017.
Kaze (Fujii / Tamura / Pruvost / Orins)
Atody Man
(Libra)
The fifth album from the French and Japanese quartet Kaze, initiated by drummer Pter Orins, with two trumpeters--Christian Pruvost and Natsuki Tamura--and pianist Satoko Fujii, all using extended and unusual techniques as they perform innovative compositions from Fujii, Orins, and Tamura with a balance of serious and playful approaches; brilliant.
Fujii, Satoko / Natsuki Tamura
Kisaragi
(Libra)
On their 5th album together, pianist Satoko Fujii and trumpeter Natsuki Tamura push the limits on approach and technique with their instruments, creating otherworldly and captivating improvisations, both players deciding against using "normal instrumental sounds", instead using preparations and textural approaches to create truly unique music.
Gato Libre (Fujii / Tamura / Kaneko)
Neko
(Libra)
Trumpeter Natsuki Tamura's Gato Libre in its 5th album brings a beautiful light-through-the-leaves melodic melancholy to their unhurried pace, now the trio of Tamura, Satoko Fujii on accordion, and Yasuko Kaneko on trombone, as the cats on the cover stop to find allure in the late day while bringing profound and introspective music to our ears.
Trouble Kaze (Fujii / Agnel / Tamura / Pruvost / Lasserre / Orins)
June
(Helix Circum-Disc)
Drummer Peter Orins expands the Kaze quartet of trumpeters Natsuki Tamura and Christian Pruvost and pianist Satoko Fujii, with a second drummmer--Didier Lasserre--and a second pianist--Sophie Agnel--for a live recording of a 5-part suite of magnificently epic collective improv.
Fujii, Satoko Orchestra Tokyo + KAZE
Peace (Tribute To Kelly Churko)
(Libra)
Pianist Satoko Fujii's Orchestra Tokyo + the band Kaze, bringing guests trumpeter Cristian Pruvost and drummer Peter Orins alongside trumpeter Natsuki Tamura into a spectacular big band of great power but also subtle meditation, in four works that include a tribute to the late guitarist and Fujii collaborator Kelly Churko.
Fujii, Satoko / Joe Fonda
Duet
(Long Song Records)
First meeting of Japanese pianist Satoko Fujii and New York bassist Joe Fonda, initiated at the suggestion of Fonda, recording in Portland, Maine at the Dimensions in Jazz Series, a beautifully recorded and intimate duo of superb dialog between two seasoned improvisers.
Fujii, Satoko Tobira
Yamiyo Ni Karasu
(Libra)
Pianist Satoko Fujii's Tobira ("door") expands the original trio configuration of Todd Nicholson on bass and Takashi Itani on drums, with trumpeter/husband Natsuki Tamura, playing inventive free improvisation with sophistication in melodic heads and superb soloing.
Kaze
Uminari
(Circum-Libra)
Natsuki Tamura & Christian Pruvost on trumpets, Satoko Fuji on piano and Peter Orins on drums for a quartet where all members are active compositional contributors, creating a powerful ensemble sound with strong soloing using modern creative techniques; excellent!



The Squid's Ear Magazine

The Squid's Ear Magazine

© 2002-, Squidco LLC