Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Satoko Fujii Min-Yoh Ensemble: Fujin Raijin

273

Satoko Fujii Min-Yoh Ensemble: Fujin Raijin

By

Sign in to view read count
Satoko Fujii Min-Yoh Ensemble: Fujin Raijin
Pianist Satoko Fujii has put together another ensemble. There's nothing new in that; it seems she and/or her husband, trumpeter Natsuki Tamura, form a new group or two every year, just to keep things fresh. With the Satoko Fujii Min-Yoh Ensemble, the mercurial Japanese-born pianist/composer takes off on yet another tangent—an exploration of Japanese folk music.

It's a departure of sorts. The Gato Libre group—in which Fujii plays accordion—has put out two CDs influenced by European folks sounds: Strange Village (Onoff, '05) and Nomad, (No Man's Land Records, '07), pastoral western music full of the characteristic Tamura/Fujii molding of the sound to make it their own. The music on Fujin Raijin feels less familiar, with the Japanese folk sound being foreign to most of our ears—edgier and more "out there," as they say.

The Min-Yoh Ensemble (Min-Yoh means folk music in Japanese) consists of Fujii on piano, Natsuki Tamura on trumpet, Curtis Hasselbring playing trombone, and Andrea Parkins on accordion. The group opens and closes the disc with two traditional Japanese folk songs, "Itsuki No Komoriuta" and "Kariboshi Kiriuta." In between you hear four Fujii originals that delve deeply into the power and beauty of the form.

The music is made with simple scales, structures and forms, and without a familiarity with the traditonal sound, it's hard to say how far Fujii takes things out. At least half way is a good guess, judging from the Gato Libre discs.

As with every new ensemble Fujii forms, the listener encounters things they've never heard before—calamitous sonic assaults beside gentle yet insistent pushes that are always taking the listener, by force or guile, to new places.

"Itsuki No Komoriuta" opens with a plucking of strings—inside the piano is the guess, since there's no "string" instrument here; and it sounds a lot like the opening of "Walking Squid" from the Natsuki Tamura/Elliot Sharp/Takayuki Kato/ Satoko Fujii disc, In the Tank (Libra Records, '05), with an otherworldly tinny-stringed delta blues feeling, followed here by Fujii's scattered raindrop piano plinks that are soon joined by a meditative trombone before the accordion—sounding an awful lot, on this tune and throughout, like a sort of subdued organic electronica—adds a stingingly eerie touch. Then in blows Tamura's trumpet, making sounds like no other trumpeter makes: squalls and squeaks and grunts and screams, interspersed with a straight ahead tone.

Like much Fujii music, Fujin Raijin mixes ensemble sounds that are by turns placid and fierce, placing the fiery ear-opening stuff beside gentle lullabies, with seemingly familiar interludes evolving, without warning, into the very strange.

As always with Fujii, expect the unexpected, and expect to be mesmerized.

Track Listing

Itsuki No Komoriuta; Champloo; Shimanto; Slowly and Slowly; Fujin Raijin; Kariboshi Kiriuta.

Personnel

Natsuki Tamura: trumpet; Curtis Hasselbring: trombone; Andrea Parkins: accordion; Satoko Fujii: piano,

Album information

Title: Fujin Raijin | Year Released: 2007 | Record Label: Les Disques Victo

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

Sensual
Rachel Z
Over and Over
Tony Monaco Trio
Love Is Passing Thru
Roberto Magris

Popular

Get more of a good thing!

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