Satoko Fujii: April Shower

by Satoko Fujii

Overview

Released on the Japanese label Ewe in April 2001 and picked up a year later by Buzz for the European market, April Shower features piano solos, overdubbed piano duets, and duets with violinist Mark Feldman. In Satoko Fujii's discography, it stands as one of her most intimate, tender, and, therefore, listener-friendly efforts, close to her debut Something About Water on which her mentor, Paul Bley, duetted with her. Feldman appears on half of the pieces, and they are the best moments of the album. His adaptability to any context has become legendary, yet his playing preserves a burning passion (talented studio musicians -- even improvisers -- can sound cold, detached, just doing their job). When the lines call for a sense of yearning, a lyrical phrasing, Feldman puts it just right ("Then I Met You" is a heartbreaker). When things get more frenetic, he can deliver the energy (outstanding in "Nice Talking to You"). Fujii's solo pieces, whether made of one or two piano tracks, feel like interludes at first. Repeated listens reveal the depth of her compositions and their complementarity with the duets. They tap into something jazzier, bringing back the influence of Bley, but also McCoy Tyner and Cecil Taylor. Her range of expression, her ability to turn a mood inside out (as in "Behind the Notes" when that left-hand motif savagely enters halfway through), make this album something to cherish. April Shower is less intellectual-sounding than her trio, sextet, or orchestra recordings. It brings you closer to the woman and her love of the music. Highly recommended, especially to newcomers with a jazz background. ~ Francois Couture

Product Details

Release Date:	03/05/2002
Label:	Buzz Records (Jazz Label) (Holland)
UPC:	0608917601824
Rank:	225301

Tracks

1. April Shower, for violin & piano
2. Mirage, for 2 pianos
3. Inference, for violin & piano
4. After You Have Gone, for piano
5. Then I met you, for violin & piano
6. In the Morning, for 2 pianos
7. In Parenthesis, for violin & piano
8. I know you don't know, for piano
9. The Snow was Falling Slowly, for violin & piano
10. Gnome, for 2 pianos
11. Nice talking to you, for violin & piano
12. Behind the Notes, for piano
13. A Strange Piece of News, for violin & piano
14. Right Before You Found It, for piano
15. White Sky, for Piano

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Satoko Fujii   Primary Artist,Piano
Mark Feldman   Primary Artist,Violin

Technical Credits

Satoko Fujii   Composer,Producer
Michael Marciano   Recording
Jim Anderson   Recording