Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Satoko Fujii: Sketches

170

Satoko Fujii: Sketches

By

Sign in to view read count
Satoko Fujii: Sketches
Satoko Fujii begins her mornings at home with twenty minutes of piano improvisation. When I heard that, I wanted to find out where she lived, grab a good cup of coffee, find a seat on the sidwalk outside her window, and listen to her keyboard ruminations. The release of her Sketches gives us all the opportunity—without risking a loitering charge—to listen in to Fujii's lyrical and introspective solo musings.

Satoko Fujii trained as a classical musician in her native Japan, switching to jazz and the world of improvisation at age twenty. She attended Boston's Berklee and the New England Conservatory, and has been a hugely creative, prolific and challenging artist ever since. Her most recent releases have featured her in a stimulating, high-energy, free jazz/avant rock quartet quartet on Zephyros, (NatSat, '04), Minerva, (NatSat, '03), and Vulcan, (NatSat, '02). As bracing as the quartet experience is, her big band work? Before the Dawn ?can shake up your musical preconceptions even more, with wild and careening rides into uncharted sonic lands.

Sketches catches Fujii in a more meditative setting, drawing as much on her classical roots as it does on her spirit of free improvisation. On her other projects, even in her most "out there" and chaotic forays, she finds ways to interject moments of pensive beauty and delicate lyricism. With this solo project, that side of her artistry is in the forefront. Though improvised, these songs have a feeling of structure within a free-flowing stream of thought.

More than any other unaccompanied instrument, the piano—an orchestra at her hands—allows the musician's personality to surface. Satoko proves herself complex and sometimes unpredictable, an iconoclastic, adventurous, captivating artist.

Visit Satoko Fujii on the web.

Track Listing

Seventh Moon, Frozen Fire, Watershed, Tree Rings, Tin Can Cat, Clay Pot, Your Deepening Shadow, Dazzling Sunlight, Looking Back, Looking Everywhere, Look Up

Personnel

Satoko Fujii—piano

Album information

Title: Sketches | Year Released: 2004 | Record Label: NatSat Music

Comments

Tags


For the Love of Jazz
Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who create it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

You Can Help
To expand our coverage even further and develop new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for a modest $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination will vastly improve your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Fiesta at Caroga
Afro-Caribbean Jazz Collective
Fellowship
David Gibson
Immense Blue
Olie Brice / Rachel Musson / Mark Sanders

Popular

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.