Search - Satoko Fujii;Satoko Fujii ma-do Quartet;Natsuki Tamura :: Heat Wave

A genius in her prime

greg taylor | Portland, Oregon United States | 11/03/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"There are certain careers in jazz that, in some way, define the music for me. Monk in the late fifties and early sixties; Coltrane, Andrew Hill, or Jackie McLean in the mid-sixties, Braxton in the 70's are examples of what I am talking about. Periods of creativity that are so fierce that they cannot help but influence all musicians and listeners who witness them.

It is my audacious claim that Satoko Fujii is in the midst of such a period right now. Well, actually, she has been in the midst of such a period for at least five years. She is releasing CD after CD of duet, trio, quartet, sextet and big band music that is almost peerless in quality and individuality. She has gathered around her a cadre of musicians in Japan and New York that are capable of playing anything that she throws at them and she continues to write some of the most challenging music I know.

This quartet CD serves as an excellent entry into her musical world if you have not heard her. She plays piano as well as provides all the compositions. Her husband and musical peer, Natsuki Tamura, is as good a trumpet player as exists on the planet right now. He has beautiful tone, the full array of smears, growls and groans and a sweet sense of twisted melody. The bass player, Norikatsu Koreyasu, has a big woody sound that sometimes just dominates everything else (he has a nice solo on The Squall in the Sahara). The drummer, Akira Horikoshi, I know only from Fujii's Tokyo Big Band recordings. He and Koreyasu are great in this quartet setting. They are capable of both subtle and powerful.

The compositions on this CD are among Fujii's most traditionally jazzy. They are very melodic but they do have moments of weirdness (listen to Amoeba for some of that). And Fujii's piano playing has never sounded better. I think her first CD was a duet recording with Paul Bley. That should give you some idea of the subtlety she is capable of. What is harder to imagine (and should be experienced live) is her power.

Take a chance on this CD. It is a Not Two release (which I think is a Polish company that has been putting out a lot of nice releases lately). It is therefore much cheaper than many of her releases on Japanese labels.

As stated earlier, this CD will give you some idea of her range and grace. I feel safe in guessing that you will want to hear more.

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