Jun 17, 2025 11:12 AM
Kandace Springs Sings Billie Holiday
When it came time to pose for the cover of her new album, Lady In Satin — a tribute to Billie Holiday’s 1958…
Longtime friends and new ones will join Fujii on an upcoming concert recording to be released Dec. 9 via Libra Records.
(Photo: Kosuke Okahara)Pianist and composer Satoko Fujii has assembled an all-star band to record her 100th album live in concert on Sept. 20 at Cary Hall in New York’s DiMenna Center for Classical Music.
Longtime friends and new ones will join Fujii for Hyaku: One Hundred Dreams, including trumpeters Wadada Leo Smith and Natsuki Tamura, tenor saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock, bassoonist Sara Schoenbeck, electronics artist Ikue Mori, bassist Brandon Lopez and drummers Tom Rainey and Chris Corsano. The recording, which will be released Dec. 9 via Libra Records, is made possible through a grant from the Robert D. Bielicki Foundation.
Fujii has always had a knack for celebrating career landmarks in style. In 2008, she marked her 50th birthday year by releasing a half dozen CDs. A decade later, she doubled that output, releasing a new CD each month for a year in celebration of her 60th birthday. In 2006, as her composing for large ensembles surged, she marked the development in her career with the simultaneous release of four big band albums, each by a different group. She celebrated the 20th anniversary of her Libra Records label in 2017 with 12 solo concerts around the world. And she has weathered the recent COVID pandemic with an outpouring of music recorded in her home studio and remotely via the internet.
Since her recording debut as a leader — the 1996 CD Something About Water, on which she was joined by pianist Paul Bley — Fujii has been prolific. Over the course of 26 years, she has released albums under her own name with a wide range of bands. Among them are seven CDs with a trio featuring bassist Mark Dresser and drummer Jim Black; five albums by her electrifying avant-rock quartet featuring drummer Tatsuya Yoshida of The Ruins; eight solo CDs; and eight duets with her husband and creative partner, Natsuki Tamura. Fully one-fifth of her recorded output — more than 20 albums — features her compositions for large ensemble. She has also done more intriguing work with ad-hoc bands such as the one she’s put together for her 100th CD celebration.
The Sept. 20 concert begins at 8 p.m. Tickets are $20. For more information, click here. DB
“There’s nothing quite like it,” Springs says of working with an orchestra. “It’s 60 people working in harmony in the moment. Singing with them is kind of empowering but also humbling at the same time.”
Jun 17, 2025 11:12 AM
When it came time to pose for the cover of her new album, Lady In Satin — a tribute to Billie Holiday’s 1958…
James Brandon Lewis earned honors for Artist of the Year and Tenor Saxophonist of the Year. Three of his recordings placed in the Albums of the Year category.
Jul 17, 2025 12:44 PM
You see before you what we believe is the largest and most comprehensive Critics Poll in the history of jazz. DownBeat…
Galper was often regarded as an underrated master of his craft.
Jul 22, 2025 10:58 AM
Hal Galper, a pianist, composer and arranger who enjoyed a substantial performing career but made perhaps a deeper…
Chuck Mangione on the cover of the May 8, 1975, edition of DownBeat.
Jul 29, 2025 1:00 PM
Chuck Mangione, one of the most popular trumpeters in jazz history, passed away on July 24 at home in Rochester, New…
“Hamiet was one of the most underrated musicians ever,” says Whitaker of baritone saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett.
Jul 8, 2025 7:30 AM
At 56, Rodney Whitaker, professor of jazz bass and director of jazz studies at Michigan State University, is equally…
