Jazz |

If this album is an admirable masterpiece, it is nonetheless extremely difficult to approach without a certain knowledge and appreciation of a composer like Olivier Messiaen, for instance. Here, we find ourselves immersed in one of the most radical forms of art, closer to the realm of 20th-century contemporary classical music than to jazz. It must be said that Satoko Fujii is undoubtedly one of the most impressive composers of our time.
This album, therefore, stands as a conceptual work, and if you were to ask Satoko Fujii about it, her response would be succinct yet profound: “For some reason I can’t explain, the sound of strings touches my heart deeply. It activates my brain in a way that’s totally different from other instruments.”
Through these words, we glimpse the possibility of translating the music of this extraordinary composer into language, where sounds transform into colors and the artistic vision enables one to transcend oneself. What emerges is a work of this caliber, one that resembles the way a painter conveys feelings, sensations, and emotions more than it does the craft of a composer. Evidently, the canvas Satoko Fujii uses to present her works is a tapestry of multicolored notes.
I am not alone in thinking this. Our colleagues at The New York Times have written about Satoko Fujii: “Fujii’s music blurs the boundary between abstraction and realism. (…) It belongs to the realm of abstract expressionism in musical form but is matched by a rich sense of simplicity, born from the feeling that she merely translates the world’s abundance into music,” wrote Giovanni Russonello.
Let us dwell on the phrase “abstract expressionism.” Indeed, that is precisely what we have here. And we must remember the Satoko Fujii Quartet, very likely one of her most remarkable achievements, paving the way for what she has become today. Her statement about string instruments finds its best illustration in Part 2, a piece that is strikingly radical. Stripping everything to its essence, when the sound emerges from the artist’s palette and becomes acrylic distilled onto the score, it resonates as powerfully as her intriguing rhythmic organization. What may, at first glance, seem disorderly is nothing more than another form of color in the hands of this artist.
To engage with Satoko’s work requires a shift in perspective. One must settle into a chair as if at the theater, open their mind wide, relinquish the search for obvious melody, and take each proposition as if it were a series of erudite words enriching our intellect. This radicality compels us to grow, to better comprehend the world around us. A prolific artist with over a hundred recordings to her name, Satoko Fujii creates out of necessity—art cannot wait!
For those harboring preconceived notions about the famed Berklee School, her biography is worth revisiting: born on October 9, 1958, in Tokyo, Fujii studied at Berklee College of Music and the New England Conservatory, both in Boston. This creation, therefore, is far from ordinary. Due to its complex format, an excerpt from this album will soon be broadcast in one of our specialized programs. For now, however, it is clear: this particularly intricate album joins the ranks of those we declare “Essential.”
Thierry De Clemensat
USA correspondent – Paris-Move and ABS magazine
Editor in chief Bayou Blue Radio, Bayou Blue News
PARIS-MOVE, January 13th 2025
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