Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Satoko Fujii Tokyo Trio: Jet Black

Satoko Fujii Tokyo Trio: Jet Black

By Dan McClenaghan
January 16, 2024
View read count

The January 2024 release of Jet Black starts the year out right. It is the Satoko Fujii Tokyo Trio's sophomore recording, presenting the Japanese pianist in one of her most compelling modes of expression: the piano trio. This is not foreign territory for her. She headed up a superb threesome with drummer

Jim Black

drums

" data-original-title="" title="">Jim Black and bassist

Mark Dresser

bass, acoustic
b.1952

" data-original-title="" title="">Mark Dresser from 1997 until 2009, crafting gems like Illusion Suite (Libra Records, 2004) and Trace A River (Libra Records, 2008). As in any of her outings—duos with her husband, trumpeter

Natsuki Tamura

trumpet
b.1951

" data-original-title="" title="">Natsuki Tamura, her numerous free-flying quartets and a dozen or so big bands—Fujii creates idiosyncratic sound worlds. Her cohorts are given seemingly endless freedom, and results are often surreal and bracingly out there.

Jet Black runs the gamut from three-way melees to near-subliminal creakings and moans—haunted house sounds interspersed with rumbles in the alleyways. When the tag avant-garde is applied to piano players, the name

Cecil Taylor

piano
1929 - 2018

" data-original-title="" title="">Cecil Taylor often comes up. In her way, Fujii is even freer than Taylor, with ivory-pounding cacophonies interspersed with beautiful lyricism and whispered asides. She plays inside the piano, making unidentifiable sounds, bassist

Takashi Sugawa

bass

" data-original-title="" title="">Takashi Sugawa bows elastic, antagonistic drones and drummer

Ittetsu Takemura

drums

" data-original-title="" title="">Ittetsu Takemura slams the dumpster lid and knocks the iron pot off the countertop and down to the floor, while Fujji hits the piano keys as if it were burning hot, giving off sparks in the process.

The question arises: Is it music? A quarter century of listening to Fujii says it most certainly is—the oddest, most stimulating kind of music. Challenging, perhaps, but offering huge rewards for those who are willing to go for the immersion into Fujii's musical mind.

Jet Black, and all of Fujii's music, is best experienced by letting go, to take in the sounds without any descriptive words in mind.

Learn more about our star rating system

Track Listing

Along the Way; Gentle Slope; Sky Reflection; From Sometime; Take a Step; Jet Black.

Personnel

Satoko Fujii

piano

Takashi Sugawa

bass

Ittetsu Takemura

drums

Tokyo Trio

band / ensemble / orchestra

Album information

Title: Jet Black | Year Released: 2024 | Record Label: Libra Records

PREVIOUS / NEXT

Bill Frisell: Jimmy Carter Pts 1 & 2
< Previous

Volume 2
Next >

Support All About Jazz

All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.