Fujii, Satoko
Victo, 2007, CD
Instrument: Piano
Issue: 14.1
Jazz Ruler Type: Avant Garde
Performance: 3
Sound: 4
Score: 
O’s Notes: Min-Yoh is Japanese folk music. It is typically written and performed by ordinary people vs. composers hence a rather simple structure. Fujii (p) has long recognized the power hidden in this art form and now makes an album with four of her own min-yoh with two newly arranged traditional pieces. Those of you who are familiar with Satoko Fujii know that she frequently plays free jazz. This is not an exception as she pushes her band to extreme boundaries with this material. There are many passages with one to few instruments playing which draws the listener into the space as a participant in the experience. It can be wildly amusing as on “Champloo” and almost alive on “Shimanto” or dramatic on “Kariboshi Kiriuta”.
Publicist: Braithwaite & Katz
