Japanese
Short Biography
Satoko Fujii
BIOGRAPHY
SATOKO FUJII
“Fujii is clearly one of the most exciting musicians to come along in a
while.” ― Robert Iannapollo, Cadence
"Unpredictable, wildly creative, and uncompromising…Fujii is an
absolutely essential listen for anyone interested in the future of
jazz." ― Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz
“100 Years…100 Alumni” ― Profiling New England
Conservatory’s Most Successful Alumni
Critics and fans alike hail pianist and composer SATOKO FUJII as
one of the most original voices in jazz today. A truly global artist,
she splits her time between New York and Japan and tours
internationally leading several ensembles. Just as her career spans
international borders, her music spans many genres, blending jazz,
contemporary classical music, rock, and traditional Japanese music into
an innovative synthesis instantly recognizable as hers alone. Her
wide-ranging compositions can incorporate the simple melodies of folk
song, the harmonic sophistication of jazz, the rhythmic power of rock,
and the extended forms of symphonic composers. Although Fujii’s
compositions are full of sudden shifts in direction and mood, the
extremes are always part of a greater conceptual whole. As an
improviser, Fujii is equally wide-ranging and virtuosic. In her solos,
explosive free jazz energy mingles with delicate melodicism and a broad
palette of timbre and textures. She has showcased her astonishing range
and ability on over 50 CDs as leader or co-leader since
1996. With each new recording or new band, she explores new
aspects of her art.
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 of Music 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 founded and led numerous ensembles, ranging from
duos to big bands. Her New York trio with bassist Mark Dresser and
drummer Jim Black has released seven critically acclaimed CDs. "Her
most substantial and musically rewarding small group outing to date,"
wrote Glenn Astarita of their third release, Toward ‘To West’
in All About Jazz. ”Besides all of the purposeful soloing, sinuous
flow and hard-edged musings, Ms. Fujii injects a potpourri of
underlying themes and fluctuating cross-currents into her music."
In 2004 trumpeter/husband Natsuki Tamura joined this trio to form the
Satoki Fujii Four, which released the critically acclaimed Live in
Japan 2004 and 2006’s When We Were There.
In 2001 came the radically different Vulcan (Libra Records),
an avant-rock/free jazz-fusion album by a new group, the Satoko Fujii
Quartet featuring Tatsuya Yoshida of the Japanese avant-rock duo, The
Ruins. Each of the Japanese quartet’s five albums, including Zephyros
(Polystar, 2004) and Angelona (Libra, 2005), has received
enthusiastic approval. "The sensibility here is aggressive to the
point of primitive,” said Bill Bennett in JazzTimes. “Vulcan is
… a masterpiece of jazz expression.”
Fujii founded two big bands in 1996 and 1997, one in New York City and
the other in Tokyo. Each band appeared on one CD of the unique two-disc
set, Double Take (EWE, 2000). “I have learned to appreciate
how they are different,” Fujii said in a jazzreview.com interview
with Don Williamson, “I think the Japanese free jazz players have a
very strong influence from the ’60s free jazz scene in America. They
have a lot of energy, and when they play, they like to show that. Many
times, their expression is very aggressive in a good way. New York
Downtown musicians have strong influence from many kinds of music, like
contemporary music, world music, and jazz. They also have great energy
in a different way.” The New York big band has released seven
CDs to date including 2006’s Undulation which was one of four
big band CDs she simultaneously released featuring her bands in NY,
Tokyo, Nagoya and Kobe. Dan Ouellette of Billboard put out the
word: “There’s a raft of jazz CDs streeting September 12, but by far
the most noteworthy launch is free-spirited Satoko Fujii’s
unprecedented delivery of four orchestral CDs.” Marc Chénard in
Coda proclaimed that Fujii “…has reinvigorated the big-band concept
for the new century – and placed herself at the forefront of the style
at the same time.” 2006 also saw the release of In Krakow, In
November a compelling duo CD with Tamura; Fragment, a CD by
her new trio called JunkBox with Tamura and percussionist John
Hollenbeck; and Nomad with Tamura’s ensemble Gato Libre, in
which Fujii plays accordion. Fujii’s 2006 touring highlights included
appearances at FIMAV (Victoriaville Festival, Canada), and performances
in Toyko, New York, Germany, Austria, Poland, Italy, Slovenia, and
Croatia.
In 2007 Fujii released four new CDs: Crossword Puzzle by Double
Duo (Angelo Verploegen and Natsuki Tamura, trumpets and Misha
Mengelberg as well as Fujii on piano); Minamo, a live recording
with violinist Carla Kihlstedt, which Ben Ratliff of the New York Times
says “is extraordinary, a series of tight, dramatic events;” Bacchus
(Satoko Fujii Quartet), Fujin Raijin, (Min-Yoh Ensemble) which
Steve Smith of Time Out New York describes as “a quietly masterful
album that deserves to be heard not only by Fujii devotees, but also by
those who have yet to take the plunge.” In 2008, Fujii released
seven CDs: Trace A River (Satoko Fujii Trio with Mark Dresser
and Jim Black) which Cadence magazine called “music without
compromise, music without boundaries, music made like it means
something;” Cloudy Then Sunny a second release from the
trio Junk Box featuring Fujii, Tamura and John Hollenbeck on
percussion; Sanrei with the Satoko Fujii Orchestra Nagoya which
Dan McClenaghan of All About Jazz called: “an expect-the-unexpected
affair, with rock riffs and brassy big band harmonies, aural riots of
fist fighting horns and histrionic group scatting that sounds like some
sort of manic mass religious ecstasy;” Chun, a duo CD with
Natsuki Tamura which Troy Collins describes in his All About Jazz
review as “Another brilliant document in the growing discography of
one of today’s most important composers;” Summer Suite with
the Satoko Fujii Orchestra NY, and “Heat Wave” by her new band
Satoko Fujii’s ma-do with Tamura, Norikatsu Koreyasu(bass) and Akira
Horikoshi (drums). She’s also featured on Natsuki Tamura’s new Gato
Libre release Kuro. Her 2008 touring schedule
included stops at the Montreal, Vancouver, Guelph, Glasgow, Angel City,
Earshot, and Tokyo Jazz Festivals, among others.
In 2009 Fujii toured the US and Canada with the Larry Ochs Sax and Drum
Core and has released two CDs: Under the Water, a limited
edition duo CD recorded live at Maybeck Recital Hall with Myra Melford
which earned 4-stars in DownBeat; and Kuroi Kawa – Black River
a duo CD with violinist Carla Kihlstedt released on John Zorn’s Tzadik
label which earned a place as one of the top new releases on the
Village Voice Critics Poll as well as one of the “Best CDs of 2010” in
DownBeat Magazine. Fujii also toured extensively in 2009
including a European tour with her ma-do ensemble with performances at
the North Sea Jazz Festival, Ljubljana Jazz Festival as well as stops
in Belgium, Germany, the UK, Austria, Poland and France. She also
performed with Satoko Fujii Four at the Angel City Jazz Festival, and
toured America and Europe with the Larry Ochs Sax and Drumming Core,
and released a new CD "Stone Shift" with Ochs’ group. In
addition, Fujii was featured on the 2009 CD “Cities” with Raymond
MacDonald. She also earned the designation “#1 Pianist of the
Year” (w. Marilyn Crispell) as well as “# 4 Best Live Band” by El
Intruso 3rd Annual Musicians Poll
Results.
In 2010 Fujii toured to Moscow, Germany, the UK, France and Japan, and
performed worldwide with Carla Kihlstedt and Myra Melford. She also
toured Europe with both Kaze and ma-do and released four new CDs: Desert
Ship, which showcases the small-scale intimacy of her Japanese
acoustic quartet Satoko Fujii’s ma-do (Nottwo); and three on Libra
Records: Zakopane featuring the Satoko Fujii Orchestra Tokyo, Cut
the Rope with Natsuki Tamura’s new band First Meeting which the
Boston Globe called “essential and ranks among Fujii and Tamura’s most
accomplished,” and Shiro with Tamura’s Gato Libre. Fujii
appeared on El Intruso’s 4th Annual Music Poll, this time as #2 Piano
and #4 Best Live Band. In addition, Fujii performed three pieces on the
new CD All Kinds of People Love Burt Bacharach produced
by Jim O'Rourke for the B.J.L. label.
Fujii kicked off 2011 as a resident artist at the Montalvo Arts Center.
She also toured the US, Canada, Japan and Australia with her band
ma-do, performed on trumpeter Natsuki Tamura’s 60th birthday concerts
in Tokyo and performed in duo with Tamura at the Angel City Jazz
Festival. In addition, she released three new CDs on the Libra label: Watershed
featuring the Satoko Fujii Min-Yoh Ensemble, ETO with the
Satoko Fujii Orchestra New York, and Rafale with her new band
Kaze featuring herself on piano, Tamura on trumpet and two
extraordinary French musicians - drummer Peter Orins and trumpeter
Christian Pruvost. Most recently, Fujii toured Italy performing
both solo and duo concerts and toured to Sweden, Poland, Belguim and
Germany with ma-do before heading to Glasgow for a solo performance at
the renowned Glasgow Improvisors Orchestra Festival. In addition,
the Satoko Fujii Orchestra has been named “Rising Star Big Band” in
DownBeat Magazine.
Fujii tirelessly continues to explore the possibilities and expand the
parameters of the many groups she’s established over the past 15 years,
and there is certainly more provocative and exciting listening in store
as she pursues her ultimate goal: “I would love to make music that
no one has heard before.”
11/29/11