For those not in the know, composer Satoko Fujii imagines a better world on After the Storm, her new recording with Orchestra Kobe. The second of her five new 2026 orchestral disc will be released August 7th, 2026 via Libra Records.

Six years ago, during the global Covid-19 pandemic, composer-pianist Satoko Fujii tried to imagine what the world would be like after the danger passed. Her latest CD, After the Storm, written for and performed by her Orchestra Kobe, embodies her vision of the future. “I was dreaming that the world would finally find complete peace after the pandemic,” she says. “We all faced the same problem - Covid - and we found that we needed to work together to solve this problem. We finally were able to unite. I was dreaming we would have no war, no weapons, no violence after the pandemic.”

Alas, that’s not how things worked out. “Actually, the situation has gotten worse,” Fujii laments. “After the pandemic, there were so many wars and so much conflict and I was so disappointed.” But she still felt her message of optimism and hope was worth recording. The result is one of her most uplifting albums, a hymn to the human potential for love and community.

1. After the Storm 1 [16:37]
2. After the Storm 2 [12:57]
3. After the Storm 3 [10:09]
4. After the Storm 4 [17:34]

A virtuoso piano improviser, an original composer and a band-leader who gets the best collaborators to deliver, Satoko opens on the gently, at first, build to the latterly infectiously grooved delights of After the Storm 1 which it itself is then backed seamlessly by the jangled tangles off the bat of a jazz contingent luxuriously jamming within After the Storm 2, then comes the, at first, ornately resplendent, perhaps a little foreboding, latterly at the races After the Storm 3, the new set coming to a close on the strident, regal fare of the soaringly triumphant After the Storm 4.

Line-up/Musicians:
Yasuhisa Mizutani, Motoki Suino - alt sax
Eiichiro Arasaki, Tsutomu Takei - tenor sax
Keizo Nobori - baritone sax
James Barrett, Rabio Arimoto, Natsuki Tamura - trumpet
Yasuko Kaneko, Yuichiro Tamagaki - trombone
Takumi Seino - guitar
Keishiro Saito - bass
Yoshikazu Isaki, Hiromasa Sadaoka - drums

www.satokofujii.com