Satoko Fujii Ma-do quartet
With: Natsuki Tamura (trumpet), Norikatsu Koreyasu (bass), Akira Horikoshi (drums)
Satoko Fujii is an original voice. The Tokyo-based pianist/composer and bandleader synthesizes jazz, contemporary classical, avant-rock and Japanese folk music into an innovative music instantly recognizable as her’s alone. Her ma-do band has many layers. Ma-do means “window” in Japanese. But “ma” also means “the silence between the notes.” Fujii chose the name to show how the music opens to the outside (just like a window) and that silence can have more meaning than notes. The group’s absorbing improvisations explore subtle textures and tone colours, using silence and group interaction to build collages of sound, melody, and rhythm.
