Satoko Fujii Tokyo Trio
Dream a Dream
Libra Records
This is the third album from Satoko Fujii Tokyo Trio and the first to be recorded in a recording studio. The group’s previous two albums were recordings of concerts. The difference between a live album and a studio album may seem a little arbitrary, since so much of Fujii’s work is built around spontaneous improvisation within a written framework. Some of the songs have quite complex arrangements, while others just have skeletal cues to keeping the improvisation moving in the desired direction.
The Tokyo Trio is made up of Fujii on piano, Takashi Sugawa on bass, and Ittetsu Takemura on drums. The players know each other well and can anticipate changes in the music.
The title track, “Dream a Dream,” is hauntingly atmospheric in its minimalism. Fujii alternates playing drifting passages with scraping the strings and knocking the inside of the piano as if it were a drum. “Summer Day” opens with impressionistic drumming from Takemura, before being joined by Fujii and Sugawa. The abstract piano figures fall like drops of rain, sometimes working up to a gale.
Dream a Dream is, like all of Satoko Fujii’s work, rewarding to those of adventurous ears. She moves between meditative and cacophonous without mercy. Strap in, and take a wild ride.
