Episode #98: Satoko Fujii

Pianist and composer SATOKO FUJII, “an improviser of rumbling intensity and generous restraint” (Giovanni Russonello, New York Times), is one of the most original voices in jazz today. For more than 25 years, she has created a unique, personal music that spans many genres, blending jazz, contemporary classical, rock, and traditional Japanese music into an innovative synthesis instantly recognizable as hers alone. “Fujii’s music troubles the divide between abstraction and realism. . . . All of this amounts to abstract expressionism, in musical form. But it’s equaled by her rich sense of simplicity, sprung from the feeling that she is simply converting the riches of the world around her into music,” writes Giovanni Russonello in the New York Times.

A prolific composer for ensembles of all sizes and a performer who has appeared around the world, she was the recipient of a 2020 Instant Award in Improvised Music, in recognition of her “artistic intelligence, independence, and integrity.” Her talent as a big band composer, arranger, and leader have been recognized numerous times in DownBeat Critics Polls. The New York City Jazz Record has twice named her Artist of the Year. In 2021, El Intruso named her Pianist of the Year.

Since she burst onto the scene in 1996, Fujii has led and recorded with some of the most consistently creative ensembles in modern improvised music. She recorded her 100th CD as leader or co-leader live in concert in September 2022. To mark the milestone, she wrote a new suite, Hyaku: One Hundred Dreams, featuring trumpeters Wadada Leo SmithandNatsuki Tamura, tenor saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock, bassoonist Sara Schoenbeck, electronics artist Ikue Mori, bassist Brandon Lopez, and drummers Tom Rainey and Chris Corsano.

Among the groups she led are a piano trio with Mark Dresser and Jim Black (1997-2009), and an electrifying avant-rock quartet featuring drummer Tatsuya Yoshida of The Ruins (2001-2008). In addition to a wide variety of small groups of different instrumentation, Fujii also performs in a duo with trumpeter Natsuki Tamura, with whom she’s recorded eight albums since 1997. She and Tamura are also one half of the international free-jazz quartet Kaze, which has released five albums since their debut in 2011.

Fujii has established herself as one of the world’s leading composers for large jazz ensembles, prompting Cadence magazine to call her “the Ellington of free jazz.” Since 1996, she has released a steady stream of acclaimed albums for jazz orchestras and in 2006 she simultaneously released four big band albums: one from her New York ensemble, and one each by three different Japanese bands. In 2013 she debuted the Satoko Fujii Orchestra Chicago at the Chicago Jazz Festival and two years later debuted the new Satoko Fujii Orchestra Berlin.

With 2016 marking her 20th year in creative music, Fujii performed concerts once a month in cities around the world, including solo concerts and with her duo with Tamura performed with special guests. She also presented performance with small and large ensembles.

During her 60th birthday year in 2018, a milestone known as Kanreki in Japan, Fujii celebrated by releasing one new CD a month. In keeping with the Kanreki tradition of reflecting on the past while looking to the future, the 12 albums included releases by groups that Fujii has led or been part of for years, such as Kaze, Orchestra Berlin, and Orchestra Tokyo, as well as new groups and collaborations with Australian keyboardist Alister Spence; Mahobin, a cooperative quartet featuring Lotte Anker, Ikue Mori, and Tamura; and a new trio, This Is It!

In addition to playing accordion in Tamura’s Gato Libre, she pursues a fruitful collaboration with bassist Joe Fonda. Together, the duo has released five recordings, sometimes adding guests like Tamura and Gianni Mimmo. In 2019, she recorded Confluence, an album of intimate, highly interactive duets with drummer Ramon Lopez.

When the pandemic forced her to stay home for more than a year, she remained musically active, converting her home practice room into a recording studio and producing her seventh solo album, Hazuki; and a duet with Tamura, Keshin. She also collaborated by swapping sound files over the Internet, releasing the duet albums Prickly Pear Cactus with Ikue Mori; Thread of Light with bassist Joe Fonda; and Underground by Futari, her duo project with vibraphonist Taiko Saito. She also explored the use of computer editing to shape a solo release, Piano Music. In this episode, Satoko shares her background, education, and musical journey.

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