The international jazz festival "Vilnius Mama Jazz" returns to the Lithuanian National Drama Theater on May 23-26, the space where it started. An impressive and somewhat nostalgic trip to the past - with music that looks to the future. This is exactly how we want to present May 24. "Satoko Fujii Tokyo Trio" in the new hall a concert, because it was the performance of Satoko Fujii in 2002 that started the first festival.
For the enthusiastic Vilnius jazz audience, getting to know this Japanese pianist and composer-turned-love at first sight was truly a start worthy of the festival's history. This should not be surprising - music lovers interested in more interesting sounds cannot remain indifferent to Satoko's drive, skill and free musical thinking.
Even five JAV, leader of orchestras playing in Germany and Japan. One of the world's most important composers, who composes for large jazz ensembles. All this is about Satoko Fujii, who is sometimes called the "Ellington of free jazz" by critics.
Satoko Fujii is often presented as an avant-garde jazz artist (known to music lovers as the founder of the groups "ma-do" and "Kaze"), but music specialists who dig deeper say that rock, folklore, and modern classical music are also included in her work. All this translates into an incomparable and hard-to-imitate, unique style complemented by excellent performance technique.
"This is music that stirs the bones and soothes the soul," says the website All About Jazz. It sounds like opposites, extremes, but Satoko Fujii has been successfully proving throughout her career that it is possible to reconcile things that are difficult to reconcile.
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Born in Tokyo, Satoko Fujii played the piano from a young age, but became interested in jazz in her twenties. The musician, who studied at the famous Berklee College in the USA, quickly joined the avant-garde jazz scene - in 1996 she released her first album with her teacher, pianist Paul Bley, and a year later she founded the New York Jazz Orchestra.
Having returned to Japan with her husband, trumpeter Natsuki Tamura, the musician has already recorded a dozen albums in the first few years of her professional career. Today, the number is breathtaking, with Satoko Fujii releasing her 2022th album in 100. In 2018 alone, celebrating her 60th anniversary, the musician released as many as 12 records, which featured a wide variety of music - from solo performances to big bands. Even during the quarantine, she recorded several albums.
More than 25 years of her intensive work has been recognized by many prizes, among them the "Instant" award for improvisational music, awarded for artistic intelligence and creative independence. Satoko Fujii's path is also marked by several bright creative partnerships. Among them - with the American pianist and composer Myra Melford, who as a member of the group "Tiger Trio" shone on the "Vilnius Mama Jazz" stage in 2023.
Unlike the typical piano jazz trio, although they respect the jazz tradition
Satoko Fujii returns to Vilnius this time with one of her latest projects - a trio in which she plays music with two talented younger generation Japanese musicians, a bass player Takashi Sugawa and a drummer Ittetsu takemura, with a passion for musical adventure and uncharted territory.
On stage, musicians instantly feel each other's pulse, playing with fascinating speed and excitement, subtlety and color. Music full of ingenuity and freedom, energy and romance. These are some of the compliments heaped on the trio in the jazz media. Satoko herself adds that the very existence of this trio can be considered a considerable success. Because both of her partners are very busy in the Japanese music scene, and their fresh approach is not so common among the country's musicians.
The trio gathered in 2019 managed to hold only a few concerts - the third of them, recorded during a concert in Tokyo, was later released on the album "Moon On The Lake". Shortly after this performance, all concert plans had to be suspended due to the pandemic. However, the joy of playing together was so great that after the quarantines ended, the trio returned to the stage and started working together again.
The result of this musical partnership is the release of a new album "Jet Black" at the end of January and concerts, one of which we will hear in Vilnius. You can be sure - it will play music full of subtlety, surprise and grace, full of attention to detail, expanding the boundaries of musical perception and breaking the frames.
"This is music for those who are fascinated by the unexpected," says one Satoko Fujii Trio review. There cannot be better recommendations. After all, musical surprises are one of the foundations of free-breathing jazz.
May 24 19:00 p.m. The "Jones Jones" trio of improvisation masters will also perform at the "Vilnius Mama Jazz" concert: Vladimir Tarasov, winner of the National Culture and Art Award, drummer of the Ambassador festival, and representatives of the US free jazz music scene - double bassist Mark Dresser and saxophonist Larry Ochs. And here another nostalgic note sounds, because Mark Dresser, a member of the "Jones Jones" project, played in one modern improvised music ensemble led by Satoko Fujii.
