Satoko Fujii biography
Biography of Satoko FujiiBiography of Satoko Fujii (short version)
SATOKO FUJII
"Fujii is clearly
one of the most exciting musicians to come along in a while." — Robert Iannapollo, Cadence
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.
"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
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.
"
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 has 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. 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.
So far in 2010 Fujii has already toured
to Moscow, Germany, the UK, France and Japan and has been featured on 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, 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.
Other 2010 plans include international performances with Carla Kihlstedt and
Myra Melford as well as European tours with both First Meeting and ma-do. Fujii has also been chosen to be a resident
artist at the Montalvo Arts Center in January 2011.
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."
5/16/10
