Duet (Long Song Records) is from a 2015 live date recorded in a small chapel in Portland, Maine. Fujii engages with the highly inventive bassist Joe Fonda for a long piece called “Paul Bley.” A moving homage to the late, great pianist/composer, the players generate intense synergies that touch on the inner and outer reaches of ‘free jazz.’ The conversation is intuitive, at times seemingly telepathic — and it creates an enormous amount of drama and joy. In the piece, Fujii spends a lot of time working inside the piano, dampening strings, carefully drawing sounds out of the instrument’s metal and wood. These eerie scrapes and shimmering drones, added to Fonda’s arco moans and whispers, conjure up a mysterious soundscape, a soundtrack for a tour of a netherworld.

Fonda, a veteran of many risk-taking collaborations, including a long stint with Anthony Braxton, is a musician who not only overflows with ideas, but possesses the technique to make them concrete, musically. What’s more, he brings a rich, resonant tone to his work with Fujii; the result is that the pair pays loving tribute to Bley while both musicians stretch their distinctive musical imaginations.

A short trio piece is included, featuring Natsuki Tamura’s breathy trumpet work. But this tune is most notable for Fujii’s sonic image of a slow eruption; her fingers release notes like bubbling lava from a deep source within her instrument. Fonda adds a bit of flute to further broaden the recording’s palette.Duet (Long Song Records) is from a 2015 live date recorded in a small chapel in Portland, Maine. Fujii engages with the highly inventive bassist Joe Fonda for a long piece called “Paul Bley.” A moving homage to the late, great pianist/composer, the players generate intense synergies that touch on the inner and outer reaches of ‘free jazz.’ The conversation is intuitive, at times seemingly telepathic — and it creates an enormous amount of drama and joy. In the piece, Fujii spends a lot of time working inside the piano, dampening strings, carefully drawing sounds out of the instrument’s metal and wood. These eerie scrapes and shimmering drones, added to Fonda’s arco moans and whispers, conjure up a mysterious soundscape, a soundtrack for a tour of a netherworld.

Fonda, a veteran of many risk-taking collaborations, including a long stint with Anthony Braxton, is a musician who not only overflows with ideas, but possesses the technique to make them concrete, musically. What’s more, he brings a rich, resonant tone to his work with Fujii; the result is that the pair pays loving tribute to Bley while both musicians stretch their distinctive musical imaginations.

A short trio piece is included, featuring Natsuki Tamura’s breathy trumpet work. But this tune is most notable for Fujii’s sonic image of a slow eruption; her fingers release notes like bubbling lava from a deep source within her instrument. Fonda adds a bit of flute to further broaden the recording’s palette.

The cover of this disc depicts what appears to be the flames of a setting sun igniting a band of cumulus clouds. The music itself is being experienced by your humble reviewer on a wet, chilly, alabaster evening in early February, and as both Satoko Fujii’s piano and Joe Fonda’s bass erupt out of the stereo field, such illustrated contrasts become apparent, literal, and livid.

Let’s note the pedigree of these players at the outset. Pianist Fujii has developed a reputation over the years, deservedly so, as one of improv’s leading lights, a clever and savvy performer of her chosen instrument who manages to combine the dexterity of Monk, the naked abstraction of Cecil Taylor, and the impressionistic flights of fancy so beloved of Paul Bley (for whom the lengthy opening piece is named, Bley being Fujii’s mentor) into a commandeering whole that is far more than the sum of its parts. Virtuoso bassist Fonda has performed with a number of jazz luminaries, most recently with Barry Altschul; his fingerstrokes are nothing less than volcanic, bespoken with a unique percussive attack repurposing the grandeur of Miroslav Vitous and Eberhard Weber in one mighty package. The two came together, having never met, let alone ever performed together, before, in a fortuitous happenstance, recorded in a church in Portland, Maine in 2015, that resulted in the works documented here.

Fonda breaks through the sonic membrane on “Paul Bley” first, his huge, earthy sound working below Fujii’s first tentative upper register flutters like a bubbling magma displacement. But soon Fujii’s cluster tones tickle across the soundstage in a cascading run of thrusting keyboard stabs, velvety trills, and more brazen fisticuffs. All the while Fonda’s formidable thunder bellows underneath, providing a fully articulated stream of notes that Fujii responds to with a near telepathic sense of tonal synergy. Fujii’s husband and frequent sparring partner, trumpeter Natsuki Tamura provides some beautifully languid accompaniment on the second shorter excursion, “JSN”, adding his usual mercurial vibe to an already heady brew. The very nature of the recording itself is practically a corresponding third instrumental element: live, this performance was undoubtedly captivating to behold, but on CD, the production and sound is absolutely electrifying.

Fujii’s work can sometimes recall a contemporary such as Vijay Iyer, but her unbridled energy and never-ending flow of ideas remains far more texturally inviting and aurally stimulating. She’s a force of nature, one to be reckoned with, which positions Duet as one of the most vital discs of its type you’ll hear this year.

The cover of this disc depicts what appears to be the flames of a setting sun igniting a band of cumulus clouds. The music itself is being experienced by your humble reviewer on a wet, chilly, alabaster evening in early February, and as both Satoko Fujii’s piano and Joe Fonda’s bass erupt out of the stereo field, such illustrated contrasts become apparent, literal, and livid.

Let’s note the pedigree of these players at the outset. Pianist Fujii has developed a reputation over the years, deservedly so, as one of improv’s leading lights, a clever and savvy performer of her chosen instrument who manages to combine the dexterity of Monk, the naked abstraction of Cecil Taylor, and the impressionistic flights of fancy so beloved of Paul Bley (for whom the lengthy opening piece is named, Bley being Fujii’s mentor) into a commandeering whole that is far more than the sum of its parts. Virtuoso bassist Fonda has performed with a number of jazz luminaries, most recently with Barry Altschul; his fingerstrokes are nothing less than volcanic, bespoken with a unique percussive attack repurposing the grandeur of Miroslav Vitous and Eberhard Weber in one mighty package. The two came together, having never met, let alone ever performed together, before, in a fortuitous happenstance, recorded in a church in Portland, Maine in 2015, that resulted in the works documented here.

Fonda breaks through the sonic membrane on “Paul Bley” first, his huge, earthy sound working below Fujii’s first tentative upper register flutters like a bubbling magma displacement. But soon Fujii’s cluster tones tickle across the soundstage in a cascading run of thrusting keyboard stabs, velvety trills, and more brazen fisticuffs. All the while Fonda’s formidable thunder bellows underneath, providing a fully articulated stream of notes that Fujii responds to with a near telepathic sense of tonal synergy. Fujii’s husband and frequent sparring partner, trumpeter Natsuki Tamura provides some beautifully languid accompaniment on the second shorter excursion, “JSN”, adding his usual mercurial vibe to an already heady brew. The very nature of the recording itself is practically a corresponding third instrumental element: live, this performance was undoubtedly captivating to behold, but on CD, the production and sound is absolutely electrifying.

Fujii’s work can sometimes recall a contemporary such as Vijay Iyer, but her unbridled energy and never-ending flow of ideas remains far more texturally inviting and aurally stimulating. She’s a force of nature, one to be reckoned with, which positions Duet as one of the most vital discs of its type you’ll hear this year.

4 STARS AND A HALF!!!! ****1/2
Japanese pianist-composer Satoko Fujii and American double bass master Joe Fonda did not need much time to establish a rare and profound musical rapport. These two prolific musicians managed to do so even though their winding paths have never previously crossed and both had not heard much of each other’s work before they were asked to play together. Duet, initiated by Fonda after a promoter in Germany recommended him to listen to Fujii, captures beautifully the duo second concert at Woodfords Congregational Church in Portland, Maine in November 2015.

These resourceful and experienced improvisers tapped immediately into a rich, intimate musical atmosphere. Duet begins with an extended free-improvisation titled “Paul Bley”, obviously dedicated to the late pianist. Bley was an early mentor for Fujii, a student of him at the New England Conservatory in Boston, with whom she recorded a piano duet (Something About Water, Libra, 1996). Fonda plays with one of Bley’s early collaborators, drummer Barry Altschul in his 3Dom Factor trio. This piece is a powerful – in the most physical and muscular sense of the word – both Fujii and Fonda sound as if they play all over their instruments, very intense – even in the short, quiet segment that Fonda plays on the flute, with sudden, fast-shifting ecstatic moods. Both explore inventive timbres, extended bowing and percussive techniques, structure and deconstruct colorful textures, always pushing each other’s sonic envelope without stopping for a second to gain their breath. Their mutual understanding is so immediate that you may think that they actually developed a telepathic reading of each other’s minds, created a unique sonic entity that, no doubt, would have made Bley happy. The second, short improvisation, “JSN”, features also Fujii’s partner, trumpeter Natsuki Tamura. This piece offers a different, more relaxed, even melodic atmosphere,informed by the inventive, playful ideas of Tamura. His idiosyncratic playing, together with fonda folksy flute and Fujii hammering on the piano strings contribute to the clever, mischievous spirit of this piece.

This masterful, exciting duo calls for more, many more performances and recordings. 4 STARS AND A HALF!!!! ****1/2
Japanese pianist-composer Satoko Fujii and American double bass master Joe Fonda did not need much time to establish a rare and profound musical rapport. These two prolific musicians managed to do so even though their winding paths have never previously crossed and both had not heard much of each other’s work before they were asked to play together. Duet, initiated by Fonda after a promoter in Germany recommended him to listen to Fujii, captures beautifully the duo second concert at Woodfords Congregational Church in Portland, Maine in November 2015.

These resourceful and experienced improvisers tapped immediately into a rich, intimate musical atmosphere. Duet begins with an extended free-improvisation titled “Paul Bley”, obviously dedicated to the late pianist. Bley was an early mentor for Fujii, a student of him at the New England Conservatory in Boston, with whom she recorded a piano duet (Something About Water, Libra, 1996). Fonda plays with one of Bley’s early collaborators, drummer Barry Altschul in his 3Dom Factor trio. This piece is a powerful – in the most physical and muscular sense of the word – both Fujii and Fonda sound as if they play all over their instruments, very intense – even in the short, quiet segment that Fonda plays on the flute, with sudden, fast-shifting ecstatic moods. Both explore inventive timbres, extended bowing and percussive techniques, structure and deconstruct colorful textures, always pushing each other’s sonic envelope without stopping for a second to gain their breath. Their mutual understanding is so immediate that you may think that they actually developed a telepathic reading of each other’s minds, created a unique sonic entity that, no doubt, would have made Bley happy. The second, short improvisation, “JSN”, features also Fujii’s partner, trumpeter Natsuki Tamura. This piece offers a different, more relaxed, even melodic atmosphere,informed by the inventive, playful ideas of Tamura. His idiosyncratic playing, together with fonda folksy flute and Fujii hammering on the piano strings contribute to the clever, mischievous spirit of this piece.

This masterful, exciting duo calls for more, many more performances and recordings.

Duet documents a first-time meeting between pianist Satoko Fujii and bassist/flutist Joe Fonda in Portland, Oregon, in 2015 and it results in two pieces: “Paul Bley”, a long and sometimes quietly intense extended
improvisation between the two, and a relatively brief piece in which they’re joined by Fujii’s husband and frequent musical partner, trumpeter Natsuki Tamura. Whether “Paul Bley” was titled before or after the
pianist’s death, it’s a fitting invocation as well as a particularly personal one: Fujii studied with Bley at the New England Conservatory in the ‘90s and her first recording, 1994-95’s Something About Water consisted
largely of hand-in-glove duets with the senior pianist. It’s an episodic improvisation, Fujii and Fonda alternately introducing materials that blossom into collective music. The two share a warmth and lyricism that lends a consistency of mood as well as thematic development. Fonda has a rich resonance and his lines are filled with subtle expressive touches. His unaccompanied bass is the first thing that we hear, his melodic lead developing a certain bluesy reverence. From there, it’s a fluid, shared invention, an exploration of each other’s special resources. There are explosions of spontaneous color, rapid-fire inventions in which Fujii explores the breadth of the keyboard accompanied by Fonda’s own explosive runs and dense ostinatos; there’s a moment of absolute reverie when Fonda turns to his flute and the two craft a spontaneous ballad that might have sprung from the imagination of Satie or Debussy. At another moment, an isolated plucked string from Fujii calls up a koto, leading to a distinctly Japanese meditation; Fonda’s vigorously plucked harmonics suggests the same instrument, inspiring zither-like string sweeps from the pianist. Each has a certain percussive bent and there are moments when Fonda’s deliberately buzzing strings or Fujii’s use of brittle vibrating materials on the piano strings seem to add a drummer to the proceedings, suggesting the classic piano trio. Tamura, a master of timbral mutation, introduces “JSN” with muted, sustained trills, creating a dense and narrow pitch range from which Fujii’s spacious, probing melody arises, gradually ascending higher in pitch, knotting in clusters with Fonda and some highpitched percussion. As that movement ebbs, Tamura turns to the lowest range of his trumpet to initiate some startlingly speech-like effects, until he is eventually joined by flute and prepared piano in music that’s wildly playful with a certain macabre dissonance. It’s an inventive meeting, with plenty of promise for the future but already substantial achievement.Duet documents a first-time meeting between pianist Satoko Fujii and bassist/flutist Joe Fonda in Portland, Oregon, in 2015 and it results in two pieces: “Paul Bley”, a long and sometimes quietly intense extended
improvisation between the two, and a relatively brief piece in which they’re joined by Fujii’s husband and frequent musical partner, trumpeter Natsuki Tamura. Whether “Paul Bley” was titled before or after the
pianist’s death, it’s a fitting invocation as well as a particularly personal one: Fujii studied with Bley at the New England Conservatory in the ‘90s and her first recording, 1994-95’s Something About Water consisted
largely of hand-in-glove duets with the senior pianist. It’s an episodic improvisation, Fujii and Fonda alternately introducing materials that blossom into collective music. The two share a warmth and lyricism that lends a consistency of mood as well as thematic development. Fonda has a rich resonance and his lines are filled with subtle expressive touches. His unaccompanied bass is the first thing that we hear, his melodic lead developing a certain bluesy reverence. From there, it’s a fluid, shared invention, an exploration of each other’s special resources. There are explosions of spontaneous color, rapid-fire inventions in which Fujii explores the breadth of the keyboard accompanied by Fonda’s own explosive runs and dense ostinatos; there’s a moment of absolute reverie when Fonda turns to his flute and the two craft a spontaneous ballad that might have sprung from the imagination of Satie or Debussy. At another moment, an isolated plucked string from Fujii calls up a koto, leading to a distinctly Japanese meditation; Fonda’s vigorously plucked harmonics suggests the same instrument, inspiring zither-like string sweeps from the pianist. Each has a certain percussive bent and there are moments when Fonda’s deliberately buzzing strings or Fujii’s use of brittle vibrating materials on the piano strings seem to add a drummer to the proceedings, suggesting the classic piano trio. Tamura, a master of timbral mutation, introduces “JSN” with muted, sustained trills, creating a dense and narrow pitch range from which Fujii’s spacious, probing melody arises, gradually ascending higher in pitch, knotting in clusters with Fonda and some highpitched percussion. As that movement ebbs, Tamura turns to the lowest range of his trumpet to initiate some startlingly speech-like effects, until he is eventually joined by flute and prepared piano in music that’s wildly playful with a certain macabre dissonance. It’s an inventive meeting, with plenty of promise for the future but already substantial achievement.

Duet is a very gratifying artistic collaboration between the inventive Japanese pianist Satoko Fujii, a freethinker who feels equally comfortable playing solo and conducting an experimental big band, and the categorical American bassist Joe Fonda, whose intense, unclouded sound made him be Anthony Braxton’s first choice for many years. These two references of the avant-garde jazz scene had only met once before recording live in 2015.
Aware of their fabulous capabilities to create astonishing sonorities, I wasn’t surprised a bit with the brutal cohesion and communicative freedom achieved during this communion.

The album comprises just a couple of tunes, kicking in with the 37-minute piece “Paul Bley”, dedicated to the masterful pianist mentioned in the title. It takes us on a challenging journey of multiple sectional changes and explorative excursions where we can still have a glimpse of the honoree’s music. The artists are in absolute command of texture, timbre, and musical precision.
Amidst tangents and difficult oblique approaches, the pair has also embarked on a few moments of melodic clarity. Not scarcely, Fujii’s entangled piano sounds dance around Fonda’s sharp plucks and thumps, creating a propelling harmony that claims to be running forever, as the water of a river. It eventually breaks into a stinging tension or a vague silence after a while. Sometimes the sounds can be pretty metallic and rusty, especially when Fujii scratches the strings of the piano and exchanges rhythmic ideas with Fonda who nods to the ping-ponged flurries. In the next minute, the mood can be so dreamy, vague, and docile that you could imagine yourself eating cotton candy in front of an old, colored carousel, somewhere in your childhood.

Disparity doesn’t mean lack of unity, and all the different passages, some of them strategically percussive, demonstrate a vastly committed duo in their buoyant interactions full of humor and vitality.
“JSN”, featuring the guest trumpeter Natsuki Tamura, conveys a complete understanding between the musicians, who know what they want and what they’re doing. This exquisite ride takes you to contemplative, turbulent, phantasmagoric, and slightly oriental wonderlands.

Flourishing with creative intuition and boasting an impeccable execution, Duet unreservedly explores the powerful musical spectrums of Fujii and Fonda, in a beautiful intersection.Duet is a very gratifying artistic collaboration between the inventive Japanese pianist Satoko Fujii, a freethinker who feels equally comfortable playing solo and conducting an experimental big band, and the categorical American bassist Joe Fonda, whose intense, unclouded sound made him be Anthony Braxton’s first choice for many years. These two references of the avant-garde jazz scene had only met once before recording live in 2015.
Aware of their fabulous capabilities to create astonishing sonorities, I wasn’t surprised a bit with the brutal cohesion and communicative freedom achieved during this communion.

The album comprises just a couple of tunes, kicking in with the 37-minute piece “Paul Bley”, dedicated to the masterful pianist mentioned in the title. It takes us on a challenging journey of multiple sectional changes and explorative excursions where we can still have a glimpse of the honoree’s music. The artists are in absolute command of texture, timbre, and musical precision.
Amidst tangents and difficult oblique approaches, the pair has also embarked on a few moments of melodic clarity. Not scarcely, Fujii’s entangled piano sounds dance around Fonda’s sharp plucks and thumps, creating a propelling harmony that claims to be running forever, as the water of a river. It eventually breaks into a stinging tension or a vague silence after a while. Sometimes the sounds can be pretty metallic and rusty, especially when Fujii scratches the strings of the piano and exchanges rhythmic ideas with Fonda who nods to the ping-ponged flurries. In the next minute, the mood can be so dreamy, vague, and docile that you could imagine yourself eating cotton candy in front of an old, colored carousel, somewhere in your childhood.

Disparity doesn’t mean lack of unity, and all the different passages, some of them strategically percussive, demonstrate a vastly committed duo in their buoyant interactions full of humor and vitality.
“JSN”, featuring the guest trumpeter Natsuki Tamura, conveys a complete understanding between the musicians, who know what they want and what they’re doing. This exquisite ride takes you to contemplative, turbulent, phantasmagoric, and slightly oriental wonderlands.

Flourishing with creative intuition and boasting an impeccable execution, Duet unreservedly explores the powerful musical spectrums of Fujii and Fonda, in a beautiful intersection.