snobb Pianist Satoko Fujii is one among best internationally known creative jazz artist from Japan leading numerous projects (usually incl. her husband trumpeter Natsuki Tamura). Smaller groups as rule have each own name so Fujii/Tamura quartet with French duo of Peter Orins(drums) and Christian Pruvost(trumpet) is known as Kaze,all-Japanese drum-less quartet with Yasuko Kaneko(trombone) and Kazuhiko Tsumura(guitar) is known as Gato Libre(Satoko plays accordion not a piano here).

Kira Kira is Satoko's newest project to date where usual pair of Fujii and Tamura is combined with renown Australian keyboardist Alister Spence and young Japanese drummer Ittetsu Takemura who is a regular member of Satoko's big bands.

"Bright Force", project's debut, contains two polar parts both coming from same concert recorded at Knuttel House in Tokyo in 2017. Because of problems with sound quality recorded material has been seriously edited, putting the gig's opener meditative micro-tonal three-part suite "Luna Lionfish" to the end of the album and bringing energetic "Because Of The Sun" and "Nat 4" at the beginning. Not like the recordings sound became better but loud explosive two first pieces with soloing trumpet on the front prepare the listener to easier acceptance of knotty but not so catchy suite's entry.

Main music's characteristic on whole album is still a tension, build by Tamura's freer trumpet solos and Spence's Rhodes passages. The drummer is a rock-heavy and Satoko's percussive piano work adds even more muscularity in a sound. Add lot of Spence's electronic effects for full picture.

Fujii,Tamura and Spence previously already played together as quartet(with The Necks drummer Tony Buck)so there is a feel of working band in Kira Kira music.

A bit more ascetic and more complex than usual Fujii's music renown from her American,European or Japanese Orchestras,"Bright Force" is another strong release of prolific Japanese pianist. Celebrating her 60 jubilee Satoko promised to release a new album every month during all 2018(Kira Kira's debut is one of them). Big part of her program is already released, mostly all of them contains an interesting music. Waiting for more to come.

J-Man With the untimely death of bassist Norikatsu Koreyasu after the recording of Time Stands Still, the third album from Satoko Fujii Ma-Do marks the end of this unique Japanese quartet. Led by prolific jazz pianist Satoko Fujii, this 2013 release explores avant-garde and experimental stylings while remaining under the guidance of a melodic and acoustic style of jazz. It's a unique album for sure, and although it may be tough to appreciate for fans of more conventional music, listeners with an ear for experimental sounds should enjoy this sonic journey.

Beginning with the frantic screeching of an acoustic bass before evolving into a frenzied improvisation centered around oddly melodic phrasing and dissonant chord structures, the opening tune (entitled "Fortitude") gives a pretty good idea of what you can expect from the rest of the record. Time Stands Still feels pretty esoteric at times, but the strong improvisations and group interplay keep the album from sounding "avant-garde for the sake of being avant-garde".

Time Stands Still strikes me as an inspired work created by a quartet of musicians with some real chemistry between each other. Although it's a shame we'll probably never hear another album from Satoko Fujii Ma-Do, this group has made a strong exit statement with Time Stands Still.

snobb Japanese pianist and composer, Satoko Fujii, is on my list of leading avant-garde jazz artists of the last decade, but "Minerva" doesn't add much to her excellent discog.

This is not the first Satoko collaboration with one of the best known Japanese avant-garde musicians, Ruins drummer Tatsuya Yoshida, but just as often happened before, the result is quite a mixed bag. Everyone familiar with Yoshida's machine-gun drumming dominance on any possible collaboration can expect a similar situation on this release - fortunately the music is a bit better balanced here. That doesn't mean this album isn't a real Satoko work - she has some moments for her piano, but the common atmosphere is still more as on a Yoshida release.

The album's main problem, in my opinion, is an unsuccessful mix of brutal avant-garde rock improvs aesthetics from Yoshida and Satoko's multi layers of complex, subtle and intellectual jazz (influenced even by some classical techniques of her early music). Yoshida's openly "underground" drumming (together with the loud and almost aggressive sound of Natsuki Tamura's trumpet) openly dominates the sound and all the music is more of an experimental mix of two very different aesthetics rather than a successful brew.

As is the case in almost any of Satoko's work, this album still has its bright moments, but possibly this is more interesting for Yoshida's fans, rather than for Satoko's.