Yuko Fujiyama - Quiet Passion (2022)

With Quiet Passion, pianist Yuko Fujiyama finally releases another album as a leader after a long break from publishing. For this eagerly awaited addition to her sparse discography, Yuko invites the great innovators Graham Haynes on cornet and Ikue Mori on electronics. The album is a mix of piano solos, duets and extraordinarily imaginative densely woven miniatures. Quiet Passion suggests a dual intention in both the title and the music – a cross-pollination of emotions that the three musicians impressively create. Regarding the instrumentation, Yuko says: "Good musicians listening to one another. I like totally free, because - I'm free, and anything I hear at that moment is allowed." Laurence Donohue-Greene writes in the liner notes: "It may have taken 17 years of woodshedding – in essence shedding off layers and decades of influences ranging from Cecil Taylor and Marilyn Crispell to Beethoven and Japanese composer- Takemitsu – but she has gotten to the core of a very personal style, as if discovering within herself a finely cut diamond." A defining characteristic of Quiet Passion is keeping the listener in suspense, with each piece developing a magical appeal.