SATOKO FUJII - Moon On The Lake
Libra Records
Available from Bandcamp
Satoko Fujii: piano; Takashi Sugawa: bass, ‘ello; Ittetsu Takemura: drums
Recorded 15th September 2020 by Kazuhiko Misumi at Pit Inn, Shinjuku, Tokyo
Fujii’s intense piano playing pulls the listener directly into the emotional turmoil of writing, improvising and performing music. Each of her solos can a physical assault on the piano, inside and out. However, this is not a set of Fujii’s piano solo playing (fascinating though that always is). From the opening track, ‘Hansho’, she is as keen on stepping back to allow Sugawas’s solo bass playing and then gently reintroduces herself. When Sugawa’s ‘cello solo begins on ‘Apsiration’, track 3, around 5 minutes, the piano notes have faded, after bouncing around the room and the sparse, (western) Classical tones of the ‘cello are given space to float. This track was previously recorded by Fujii in a quartet featuring Leo Wadada Smith and the difference between versions is striking. But this difference also shows how she assimilates herself to her musical partners, and they to her, so that each performance creates a new, shared vocabulary. On ‘Wait for the Moon to Rise’, track 2, each musician is searching for new sounds from their instruments – often creating sounds that mimic other ones (like Fujii playing the piano strings to sound like the traditional Japanese koto on track 2, or like a glockenspiel on track 3). On the closing track, ‘Moon on the lake’, the mood is calm, gentle and music has that subtleness of ambient or minimalist music, where each note lasts for as long as possible and lines simmer and quietly build. The evocation of different instruments, the creation of new sounds, and the blending of traditional Japanese music with western Classical idioms, and Takemura’s rich jazz sensibilities, make this unclassifiable music. But while it might be hard to classify, it is impossible to ignore.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
Libra Records
Available from Bandcamp
Satoko Fujii: piano; Takashi Sugawa: bass, ‘ello; Ittetsu Takemura: drums
Recorded 15th September 2020 by Kazuhiko Misumi at Pit Inn, Shinjuku, Tokyo
Fujii’s intense piano playing pulls the listener directly into the emotional turmoil of writing, improvising and performing music. Each of her solos can a physical assault on the piano, inside and out. However, this is not a set of Fujii’s piano solo playing (fascinating though that always is). From the opening track, ‘Hansho’, she is as keen on stepping back to allow Sugawas’s solo bass playing and then gently reintroduces herself. When Sugawa’s ‘cello solo begins on ‘Apsiration’, track 3, around 5 minutes, the piano notes have faded, after bouncing around the room and the sparse, (western) Classical tones of the ‘cello are given space to float. This track was previously recorded by Fujii in a quartet featuring Leo Wadada Smith and the difference between versions is striking. But this difference also shows how she assimilates herself to her musical partners, and they to her, so that each performance creates a new, shared vocabulary. On ‘Wait for the Moon to Rise’, track 2, each musician is searching for new sounds from their instruments – often creating sounds that mimic other ones (like Fujii playing the piano strings to sound like the traditional Japanese koto on track 2, or like a glockenspiel on track 3). On the closing track, ‘Moon on the lake’, the mood is calm, gentle and music has that subtleness of ambient or minimalist music, where each note lasts for as long as possible and lines simmer and quietly build. The evocation of different instruments, the creation of new sounds, and the blending of traditional Japanese music with western Classical idioms, and Takemura’s rich jazz sensibilities, make this unclassifiable music. But while it might be hard to classify, it is impossible to ignore.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
