Pianist Satoko Fujii coming from Japan, and is, in my opinion, one of the toughest jazz musicians on the planet at present. She moved across the ocean in 1985, to study at Berklee, where she finished in 1985, when she returned to Japan. But where she could not be. So in 1993 she sat in the nose against the United States, where she studied further in New England Conservatory of Music until 1996. Then it was the sea again, to Japan with her husband, trumpeter Natsuki Tamura.
But she has not let go of the United States, and the 15th November 2015, she was in a church in Portland, along with the householder and the American bassist Joe Fonda, to record “Duet.”
Joe Fonda was born in Amsterdam, New York to parents who both played jazz. In his youth he started, like so many others, with guitar, before he went over to bass guitar. He also studied at Berklee, where he started playing acoustic bass. Since then he has been an active bassist in the freer part of the American jazz scene, and he has recorded with, among others, trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith.
In “Duet” we get two long compositions. The first they called “Paul Bley” and is a tribute to the late pianist that lasts throughout the 37 minutes and 10 seconds, and there’s not a moment too long. They get two really shown himself. Fujii inside and piano, as if it was Aki Takase, Eve Risser or Cecil Taylor who held on, and Fonda with his powerful and magnificent bass. All the way improvised it and the song will be created there and then. It is extremely creative and tough. Fujii is a powerful pianist who puts something in between, and with Fonda as accomplice, so this is very exciting and interesting. We can, with a little good will, recognize Paul Bley in the way she spoiller on, when she is staying at the black and white keys, but since she operates as often inside the piano, so she creates something completely separate, which is fascinating and fine.
And Fonda, who I believe has been far too little attention over the years, is a powerful bassist in line with William Parker, although his playing is more European than Parker.
On the second track, “JSN” they have also Natsuki Tamura on trumpet, and the soundstage is a little different. We know him best from the band Gato Libre, but he has also worked with Larry Ochs from Rova Saxophone Quartet, the Dutch pianist Misha Mengelberg, saxophonist Elliot Sharp, pianist Paul Bley and a number of Japanese musicians.
The “JSN” is he who opens, with a bit thin and sore intro before “mistress” takes over the lead, together with Fondas bass. In Fujiis game here I feel like Misha Mengelberg and Thelonious Monk hovering over the waters. But it is constantly distinctive to Fujii, together with Fondas powerful bass dominate. When Tamura enters, together with Fondas flute, the music in a slightly different direction, without excitement or intensity disappears.
The three musicians play is powerful music is creative, beautiful, exciting and challenging, and I can not understand why these musicians have not been placed on any of the jazz festivals in the Nordic countries in recent years.
But it’s never too late! If the three show up at one of the festivals or clubs in your vicinity, it is only to secure a place, for this is one of the most exciting things I’ve heard in a long time