Fujii And Tamura On Libra

Natsuki Tamura
Exit
Libra 104-010

Satoko Fujii
Illusion Suite
Libra 203-009

Pianist Satoko Fujii continues a frantic release schedule -- some twenty-three albums in eight years -- with these two new discs on her self-owned Libra label. Exit finds her again in collaboration with her husband, trumpeter Natsuki Tamura. His new quartet venture is an excursion into communal "free" fusion where everyone, apparently even the drummer (from time to time) is electrified. Unfortunately, this listener was not. There is no lack of communication—all members are clearly comfortable, exhibiting incredible chops and taste in an environment free of conventional solos and choruses. There are wonderful moments of meditative silence -- such as those at the beginning of "Eliminate" – as well as many long stretches of high-volume intensity.

Timbre is the problem. Whether intended or not, the group's sound palette is small, and the individual players' choices monotonous. Tamura is a first-rate player, but the Bitches Brew trumpet, delayed and often distorted, wears thin half way through the album. And Fujii, a wonderful pianist, seems less than comfortable with a pitch wheel, the most subtle and "humanizing" element in a synthesist's musical vocabulary. Yet even her synth patches are fairly pedestrian, and only the title track finds the quartet exploring more interesting timbral options -- squeaky toys and Phil Minton-like squawks -- to amusing effect. That said, Supersilent, to name only one example, presents much more of a model of what is possible when sonic innovation and more conventional forms of improv merge successfully.

Infinitely more satisfying is the newest disc from Satoko Fujii's New York trio with Mark Dresser (bass) and Jim Black (drums), Illusion Suite. Absolutely refreshing from the opening moments of its thirty-four minute title track, Fujii's classical background is immediately apparent in what I'd swear is a conscious allusion to Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time! Impressionistic piano chords in the upper register, bass imitating cello, tinklingly oriental percussion … but it's all part of an illusion which fades as Mingus' melodic lines and Corea's harmonic sensibility merge to become part of an unusually original compositional voice.

Fujii's constant juxtaposition of tonal and atonal ideas is as breathtaking as is her spatial awareness, doubtless a result of her many big band experiences. She is never quite as explosive as are her trio partners, Black bursting into flames more than once during the album, but she anchors the proceedings with everything from Debussian planing chords to free outbursts that invoke Cecil Taylor. "An Irregular Course" and "An Insane Scheme" are sonically daring and lots of fun, the latter finding the group sounding like they're trying to play and scream their way out of a soup can and then breaking into a slow grotesque waltz, only to forsake that for more ambiguous territory. It is the perfect closer to one of the most inventive and exciting trio discs I've heard in quite some time.

~ Marc Medwin