Acclaimed pianist and composer Satoko Fujii receives 2020 Instant Award in Improvised Music The pioneering avant-garde artist is among a dozen honorees

Acclaimed pianist and composer Satoko Fujii receives 2020 Instant Award in Improvised Music
 

The pioneering avant-garde artist is among a dozen honorees

"One of the most original pianists in free jazz.” – Steve Greenlee, Boston Globe

“An improviser of rumbling intensity and generous restraint.” –Giovanni Russonello, New York Times

“The Ellington of free jazz.” – Cadence Magazine

 
Internationally acclaimed improvisor Satoko Fujii is one of a dozen members of the international improvised music community to be honored with a 2020 Instant Award in Improvised Music from The Horse with No Name. 

 
“I am beyond thrilled and grateful to be recognized with so many other remarkable creative musicians. It means so much to receive this acknowledgement,” says Fujii, a tireless, prolific and versatile pianist, composer and accordionist.
 
Other 2020 recipients are Raymond Boni, Peter Brotzmann, John Edwards, Mats Gustaffson, Okkyung Lee, Arto Lindsay, Paul Lytton, Sam Newsome, Alexander von Schlippenbach, LaDonna Smith, and Nate Wooley.  These respected members of the international improvised music community “represent a spectrum of ages and diverse backgrounds, have been chosen for their artistic intelligence, independence, and integrity,” says John Corbett of Corbett vs. Dempsey.
 
This year, in a period of unprecedented turbulence and challenge, the Instant Award in improvised Music is conferred on twelve respected members of the international improvised music community. These individuals, who represent a spectrum of ages and diverse backgrounds, have been chosen for their artistic intelligence, independence, and integrity.”
 
Underwritten by an anonymous patron and musical devotee, the Instant Award in Improvised Music is presented to outstanding improvisors. Previous Instant Award recipients are Susan Alcorn, Joe McPhee, Ikue Mori, and Evan Parker. Corbett vs. Dempsey is proud to be the official mouthpiece for the Horse With No Name. 
 
For information visit https://www.corbettvsdempsey.com/2020/05/01/instant-award-improvised-music-2020-recipients/.
 
Critics and fans alike hail Satoko Fujii as one of the most original voices in jazz today. She’s “a virtuoso piano improviser, an original composer and a bandleader who gets the best collaborators to deliver," says John Fordham in The Guardian. In concert and on more than 80 albums as a leader or co-leader, she synthesizes jazz, contemporary classical, avant-rock, and folk music into an innovative style instantly recognizable as hers alone. A prolific bandleader and recording artist, she celebrated her 60th birthday in 2018 by releasing one album a month from bands old and new, from solo to large ensemble. Franz A. Matzner in All About Jazz likened the twelve albums to “an ecosystem of independently thriving organisms linked by the shared soil of Fujii's artistic heritage and shaped by the forces of her creativity.”

 
Over the years, Fujii has led some of the most consistently creative ensembles in modern improvised music, including her trio with bassist Mark Dresser and drummer Jim Black and an electrifying avant-rock quartet featuring drummer Tatsuya Yoshida of The Ruins. Her ongoing duet project with husband Natsuki Tamura released their sixth recording, Kisaragi, in 2017. “The duo's commitment to producing new sounds based on fresh ideas is second only to their musicianship,” says Karl Ackermann in All About Jazz. Aspiration, a CD by an ad hoc quartet featuring Wadada Leo Smith, Tamura, and Ikue Mori, was released in 2017 to wide acclaim. “Four musicians who regularly aspire for greater heights with each venture reach the summit together on Aspiration,” writes S. Victor Aaron in Something Else. As the leader of no less than five orchestras in the United States, Germany, and Japan (two of which, Berlin and Tokyo, released new CDs in 2018), Fujii has also established herself as one of the world’s leading composers for large jazz ensembles. Recent and forthcoming projects include a 2019 solo album, a duo recording with vibraphonist Taiko Saito, and a new release by Fujii ensemble Kaze featuring Ikue Mori.