| Jazz |
I often speak to you of the pianist and composer Satoko Fujii, who this year graces us with multiple albums. The next in line features her trio, alongside drummer Ittetsu Takamura and bassist Takashi Sugawa. Hailed by Giovanni Russonello of The New York Times as an “improviser of rumbling intensity and generous restraint,” Satoko Fujii stands among the most singular voices in contemporary jazz. For over twenty-five years, she has forged a musical language that defies categorization, weaving together jazz, contemporary music, rock, and traditional Japanese elements into a singularly innovative synthesis—one that is immediately and unmistakably her own.
In these few words, nearly all is said about this remarkable artist. And yet, this latest album may well be her most aligned with the conventions of jazz. The true artistry here lies in the compositions themselves, which relentlessly urge her rhythm section toward its most inventive limits, offering us moments at the piano of striking beauty and unsettling aesthetic depth.
Since her emergence on the scene in 1996, Satoko Fujii has led and recorded with some of the most creative ensembles in modern improvised music. In September 2022, she celebrated a milestone—her 100th album as a leader or co-leader—by composing a new suite, Hyaku: One Hundred Dreams, performed with an ensemble that included trumpeters Wadada Leo Smith and Natsuki Tamura, tenor saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock, bassoonist Sara Schoenbeck, electronic artist Ikue Mori, bassist Brandon Lopez, and drummers Tom Rainey and Chris Corsano.
Boundlessly prolific, as though following the sheer momentum of her own imagination, each of her works carries a sense of urgent creation. This album is no exception. Fujii’s compositions stand apart in their intellectual rigor, bordering on a kind of fundamental research whose inner logic seems known only to the composer herself. To listen is to embark on an experience—one that demands the listener’s vigilance, as if wandering through a vast forest, attuned to the faintest sound. Here, meaning is secondary; all is sensation, perception, and the capacity to project oneself into the music. Inevitably, this is not music for all ears.
And yet, if you consider art to be essential, if you embrace music as an adventure of sound and spirit, then this album is for you. Musicians and aspiring artists alike may find much to savor here. It is, perhaps, not Fujii’s most awe-inspiring work, but rather a waystation on a longer journey—a piece that gestures toward a greater creation yet to come, the culmination of what has so brilliantly begun here. For us, this album is a coup de cœur, deserving of the deepest respect.
Thierry De Clemensat
USA correspondent – Paris-Move and ABS magazine
Editor in chief Bayou Blue Radio, Bayou Blue News
PARIS-MOVE, February 24th 2025
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