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For those not in the know, pianist and composer SATOKO FUJII, “an improviser of rumbling intensity and generous restraint” (Giovanni Russonello, New York Times), is one of the most original voices in jazz today.

For more than 25 years, she has created a unique, personal music that spans many genres, blending jazz, contemporary classical, rock, and traditional Japanese music into an innovative synthesis instantly recognizable as hers alone.

On Burning Wick, an album where Satoko reunites her avant jazz-rock quartet and offers a wild thrill ride (and will release on November 21st, 2025), she steers her powerhouse fusion quartet - trumpeter Natsuki Tamusa, bassist Hayakawa Takeharu and drummer Tatsuya Yoshida - in new directions.

Originally founded in 2001, the ferociously energetic all-star quartet was one of her first working bands. They recorded five albums together before she put the band on hold in 2007. Reunited last year after a nearly 2-year hiatus, the band has lost none of its playfulness and daring as Satoko harnessed their unique energy for another joy ride into the unknown.

“I have more fun playing with this band than ever before,” she says. “We know each other better, we respect each other, and we enjoy the differences between our respective styles. We are not young anymore - our average age is 68 years old - but we have so much fun making music together that we feel like teenagers.”

Satoko’s compositions play an expanded role in shaping the music on Burning Wick. “For the last album, Dog Days of Summer, I ended up changing the arrangements a day before the recording in order to keep the band’s wildness,” she says. “This time, I changed almost nothing, because in rehearsals the band sounded so good playing what I wrote.”

1. Solar Orbit
2. Rain in the Wee Small Hours
3. Walking through the Border Town
4. Neverending Summer
5. Mountain Gnome
6. Three Days Later
7. Burning Wick

The all-star ensemble kick things off with the ______________ of Solar Orbit and then we get brought forth the ____________ of Rain in the Wee Small Hours, the _______________ of Walking through the Border Town, the ___________________ of Neverending Summer, the set rounding out on the ____________ of Mountain Gnome, the _______________ of Three Days Later, coming to a close on the ___________ of Burning Wick.

www.satokofujii.com