THIS IS IT! - Mosaic
Libra Records CD 203-068
Natsuki Tamura: trumpet; Satoko Fujii: piano; Takashi Itani: drums, percussion
Recorded ‘at home’ in Japan, June 2021
These three musicians are all very important in the Avant-garde scene, in which each has been dynamically active for many years, especially in experimental, free improvisation and jazz. They are also incredibly prolific, so it is a shock to see that their work has not been so visible here in the West. It is true, though, that much of their work is Japan-based, where Satoko Fujii is leader of an astonishing selection of outfits large and small. She is likely the most productive pianist in the jazz world, yet among the least well recognised, given her background of training in the West.
Fujii’s musical history, after starting on piano at the age of four, saw her in classical training until she was 20. Then she became interested in improvisation and jazz and was tutored in Tokyo. She moved on to Boston’s Berklee College of Music, graduating in 1987. Later, returning to the U.S. in 1993, she was awarded a graduate diploma in Jazz Performance from the New England Conservatory of Music in 1996.
Once again, as with FUTARI – Underground, Fujii refuses to let the pandemic get her down. This time, she and her husband, trumpeter Natsuki Tamura, synchronised their parts at home in Kobe, collaborating with drummer Takashi Itani, also at home and many miles away in Tokyo. The resulting tracks are a triumph, showing that the lack of propinquity is no deterrent to successful interchange and improvisation. Fujii’s skill at organising her music is at her usual best and there is nothing prescribed in any of the five pieces. The result is almost an hour of music that is animated, energetic, fervent and optimistic. It has been visualised and formulated in an authentic, aware and sensitive musical philology, the three musicians employing expressions, resonances, tempi, tones and uncommon harmonies to frame discrete forms and present a polyphonic facture.
The trio This Is It! is marked by this facture, which demonstrates the quality of its execution. It is clearly and utterly original and improvised, and regardless of its authority, it never fails to offer compassion. The piece Dieser Zug happens in contrasting sections and demonstrates how the three musicians have dovetailed their discrete improvisations, so that all is clearly poised, balanced.
This Is It! has invented, rather than discovered, virtual working and whilst we might think that there were huge challenges facing them in this venture, none of them are apparent in this free-form work of art. Virtual, but never cybernetic.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
Libra Records CD 203-068
Natsuki Tamura: trumpet; Satoko Fujii: piano; Takashi Itani: drums, percussion
Recorded ‘at home’ in Japan, June 2021
These three musicians are all very important in the Avant-garde scene, in which each has been dynamically active for many years, especially in experimental, free improvisation and jazz. They are also incredibly prolific, so it is a shock to see that their work has not been so visible here in the West. It is true, though, that much of their work is Japan-based, where Satoko Fujii is leader of an astonishing selection of outfits large and small. She is likely the most productive pianist in the jazz world, yet among the least well recognised, given her background of training in the West.
Fujii’s musical history, after starting on piano at the age of four, saw her in classical training until she was 20. Then she became interested in improvisation and jazz and was tutored in Tokyo. She moved on to Boston’s Berklee College of Music, graduating in 1987. Later, returning to the U.S. in 1993, she was awarded a graduate diploma in Jazz Performance from the New England Conservatory of Music in 1996.
Once again, as with FUTARI – Underground, Fujii refuses to let the pandemic get her down. This time, she and her husband, trumpeter Natsuki Tamura, synchronised their parts at home in Kobe, collaborating with drummer Takashi Itani, also at home and many miles away in Tokyo. The resulting tracks are a triumph, showing that the lack of propinquity is no deterrent to successful interchange and improvisation. Fujii’s skill at organising her music is at her usual best and there is nothing prescribed in any of the five pieces. The result is almost an hour of music that is animated, energetic, fervent and optimistic. It has been visualised and formulated in an authentic, aware and sensitive musical philology, the three musicians employing expressions, resonances, tempi, tones and uncommon harmonies to frame discrete forms and present a polyphonic facture.
The trio This Is It! is marked by this facture, which demonstrates the quality of its execution. It is clearly and utterly original and improvised, and regardless of its authority, it never fails to offer compassion. The piece Dieser Zug happens in contrasting sections and demonstrates how the three musicians have dovetailed their discrete improvisations, so that all is clearly poised, balanced.
This Is It! has invented, rather than discovered, virtual working and whilst we might think that there were huge challenges facing them in this venture, none of them are apparent in this free-form work of art. Virtual, but never cybernetic.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
