It’s hard, I’d imagine, to maintain one jazz orchestra, much less the half dozen or so that composer, bandleader and pianist Satoko Fujii does. As successful as she’s been in consistently assembling high-end talent into these astonishingly creative ensembles to realize her larger works, these projects ran aground during the Covid years. But that was just a temporary setback for Fujii and now these orchestras are back with a vengeance.
After The Storm (Libra Records) by the Satoko Fujii Orchestra Kobe is the second of five releases planned for 2026, each album from a different Satoko Fujii Orchestra. The title refers to the difficulties brought by the pandemic and world challenges that have manifested since then. Like the rebirth of the Orchestras, it’s an expression of optimism for a better world around the corner.
Fujii’s fourteen member Kobe band is made up of two alto saxes (Yasuhisa Mizutani, Motoki Sugino), two tenor saxes (Eiichiro Arasaki, Tsutomu Takei), a baritone sax (Keizo Nobori), three trumpets (James Barrett, Rabito Arimoto, Natsuki Tamura), two trombones (Yasuko Kaneko, Yuichiro Tamagaki), an electric guitar (Takumi Seino), one bass (Keishiro Saito) and two drum sets (Yoshikazu Isaki, Hiromasa Sadaoka). Fujii herself wrote all the music of course, but doesn’t perform. It’s unmistakably her vision, though, living up to her reputation of being the ‘Duke Ellington of the free jazz’ (Cadence Magazine).
The difference between any of the Satoko Fujii Orchestras come down to the personalities that make up each band, in my estimation, because individual expression is strongly encouraged for every ensemble Fujii leads. But that sense of adventurism, drama and moments of poignant beauty permeate the Japan-based Kobe Orchestra as it does with any other Fujii big band.
“After The Storm 1” begins with the slightest of footprints, a ruminating bass passage from Saito, culminates into a switch from pizzicato to arco as a rich confluence of horns render a stately figure. But Fujii always zigs when you expect the orchestra to zag: instead of that leading into a bombast of instruments, there’s a return to a single instrument again, this time Tamagaki’s lightly-accompanied luminous trombone, which leads right back into the theme. The next solo highlight comes courtesy of Sadaoka, who emphasizes tonality over rhythmic pulse. When his drums reach the point of agitation, the larger group re-enters with a different set of chords and the dissonance sets up Takei’s free-jazz sax foray backed by Seino’s Marc Ducret-styled asides. A final cycle of the overall theme puts a bow on this sixteen-minute excursion.
A feisty threesome of Nobori, Tamura and Seino is the interaction that provides the preliminary shape of “After The Storm 2,” but Fujii’s tactic here is to trot out a parade of soloists coming in and out, often overlapping each other. Within her very loose framework, this is how the song gets fleshed out as they go along. Every Fujii ensemble includes lighthearted moments, like here when Nobori alternates honks with shouts. Breaking another rule of big band, the whole band mostly doesn’t plays at once, but rather at varying, ever-changing degrees. When the full weight of the band does comes down, it does so in Ellingtonian fashion, entirely unexpected given that the band was bordering on the spunk of the Art Ensemble of Chicago just moments before.
A gathering storm broken up by brief moments of silence launch “After The Storm 3.” Tamura’s brashness and audacious whimsy soon takes over the song, continuing to raise heck even after the full orchestra re-emerges to state defined motifs. Sadaoka finally takes the baton from Tamura with an equally brazen drum solo.
“After The Storm 4” features another trumpet on fire, but this time from Arimoto. The hyper-tempo swing forces the soloists to speed up their testimonials, including Kaneko’s and Seino’s. Eventually though, things do slow down and Seino goes into Sonny Sharrock mode amidst restless drums. While the ensemble makes majestic statements of the theme, Seino adjusts his tactics to meet the final moment.
Recorded in the pressure cooker of a performance captured live in front of an audience with the intent of making an album from a flawless, unbroken performance, After The Storm was executed in a single night. It’s a testament to all musicians involved who constantly took chances to make something truly memorable and never fell down. It’s also a testament to Satoko Fujii, who created these challenges in order to make music that confronts the listener with a barrage of novel twists and identifying the musicians who can carry out this tall order.
Pick up After The Storm today from Bandcamp.
- Satoko Fujii Orchestra Kobe – ‘After The Storm’ (2026) - August 17, 2026
- Ivo Perelman, Matthew Shipp, William Parker + Bobby Kapp – ‘Synthesthesia’ (2026) - August 10, 2026
- Bob Nell & Michael Bisio Trios – ‘We Are Here’ (2026) - July 27, 2026
