Satoko Fujii

Japanese-born pianist Satoko Fujii was one of the most exciting fresh voices to emerge in avant-garde jazz through the ’90s, with the capacity of dissonant, post-Cecil Taylor free of charge improvisation, lovely single piano ruminations affected by Japanese folk and traditional music, and advanced big band graphs directed at fiery collective improvisation. Fujii started playing piano at age group four, studying traditional music for another 16 years; nevertheless, when she found that her organic flair for improvisation experienced nearly been qualified from her, she required a year faraway from playing piano and consequently analyzed jazz with Koji Taku and Fumio Itabashi. In 1985, she received a scholarship towards the Berklee College of Music, graduating in 2 yrs; she then performed a lot of Japan’s main jazz night clubs while assisting herself like a program musician and instructor. Fujii returned towards the U.S. in 1993 to review at the brand new Britain Conservatory of Music, where her educators included George Russell, Cecil McBee, and Paul Bley. In 1995, Fujii documented her 1st American recording with Bley, entitled Something About Drinking water. The follow-up, Indicator, was entirely single, sometimes recalling Keith Jarrett; both had been critically acclaimed. In 1997, Fujii documented an recording of duets with her trumpeter spouse, Natsuki Tamura, entitled JUST HOW MANY?; in 1998, she debuted her 15-piece orchestra around the Leo recording South Blowing wind, which once again received glowing evaluations, and also documented the trio recording SEARCHING the Windows. 1999 created the lovely, romantic Kitsune-Bi as well as the avant-garde Recent Life, the second option documented with her Japanese sextet. Fujii held growing even more prolific, saving three albums in 2000 (Jo, with her 15-piece; the two-disc Twice Consider, with both of her huge ensembles; as well as the trio outing Toward, “To Western world”) and three even more in 2001 (Apr Shower, a duo with violinist Tag Feldman; Junction, with her trio; and Vulcan, using a rock-tinged Japanese quartet).