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Pianist/composer Satoko Fujii keeps the music coming

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February 01, 2012|By Andrew Gilbert

Pianist Satoko Fujii and her husband, trumpeter Natsuki Tamura, will perform…

While Satoko Fujii describes herself as lazy, the contentedly indolent and blissfully idle must look elsewhere for a role model.

Since recording her first CD in 1996, the Japanese pianist and composer has put her prolific peers to shame, releasing a veritable flood of albums documenting a dizzying array of ensembles. And it’s not like she’s sacrificing quality for quantity.

After listening to at least half of her five-dozen CDs, including solo recitals, free improv duos, a celebrated trio with bassist Mark Dresser and drummer Jim Black, a Japanese rock quartet and four geographically distinct big bands, what’s most impressive is Fujii’s seemingly bottomless well of strikingly personal musical ideas. To hear her tell it, her tireless work ethic is merely a self-imposed antidote to her propensity toward sloth.

“The reason I write so much stuff is that I know I’m lazy,’’ said Fujii, 53. “I’ve got a big band performance tomorrow in Tokyo and now I have to write something. I don’t want to have a gig with all old repertoire! I know I have to push myself. I love to write and I compose every day, but I need to set up something beforehand or else I can’t focus.’’

Fujii performs tomorrow at the Lily Pad with trumpeter Natsuki Tamura, her husband and frequent bandstand partner. It’s Fujii’s first Boston date in a decade, an unaccountable absence given her deep Beantown ties.

Trained intensively in European classical music as a child, Fujii became fascinated by improvisation toward the end of high school. She followed the well-trod path from Japan to Boston, earning a scholarship to Berklee College of Music and graduating in two years. Returning to Japan in the late ’80s she found lots of work while the economy was still booming, but little that satisfied her creatively.

After five years, she returned to Boston to study at the New England Conservatory, where her teachers included George Russell, Cecil McBe, and Paul Bley, who gave her the ultimate letter of recommendation by joining her for a series of shimmering piano duets on her first album, 1996’s “Something About Water.’’

While she’s probably best known for her orchestral work, Fujii has made something of a specialty out of the duo format. There’s 2007’s “Minamo,’’ an album of cagey, free improvisation with violinist Carla Kihlstedt, and 2009’s “Under the Water,’’ a probing, playfully rough-and-tumble two-piano session with Myra Melford.