Ikue Mori Archive
Satoko Fujii, Wadada Leo Smith, Natsuki Tamura and Ikue Mori – Aspiration – Libra
Satoko Fujii, Wadada Leo Smith, Natsuki Tamura and Ikue Mori – Aspiration [TrackList follows] – Libra 204 043, 62:40 [9/8/17] ****: Four brilliant and independently-minded improvisers together at last. (Wadada Leo Smith – trumpet; Natsuki Tamura – trumpet; Satoko Fujii – piano; Ikue Mori – electronics) For listeners who prefer jazz outside of traditional or predictable jazz territory, the 62-minute Aspiration is a must-hear. The reason is the quartet which makes up this six-track album. Trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith is one of the top avant-garde jazz and free improvisers. He’s involved with the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), was a finalist for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Music for his 2012 effort, Ten Freedom Summers, and he received the 2016 Doris Duke Artist Award. Pianist Satoko Fujii is one of Japan’s major jazz improvisers and free jazz proponents, with over 40 releases. Fujii’s husband, trumpeter Natsuki Tamura, has collaborated on many of Fujii’s recorded material (they both also front the acoustic group Gato Libre) and has been favorably compared to Smith for his likeminded inclinations concerning free jazz and creative melodicism. Ikue Mori (on electronics) was initially a drummer in the late 1970s NYC No Wave movement, […]