I first learned about the Center for New Music (C4NM) right around the time that they established their home base at 55 Taylor Street, having signed a lease in October of 2012. This was not long after my retirement from Silicon Valley. The San Francisco Conservatory of Music had only recently made its move into the Civic Center, providing me with an abundance of listener experiences to keep me busy as a retiree. However, it was through C4NM that I first encountered pianist Satoko Fujii and her husband trumpeter Kappa Maki.
Back in my Examiner.com days, I described their work as “their own distinctive approach to free jazz improvisation,” meaning that I had never encountered such an approach to jamming in most (if not all) of my previous encounters with “free jazz.” My earliest writing about them was with Examiner.com; and, because I was unable to backup all my articles before that site folded, I do not have any record of their work prior to February 10, 2015. Fortunately, I have been able to follow their releases; and, as of this writing, I find that I have 50 CDs to account for their performances since then.
John Coltrane on the cover of his Major Works album, the performance that guided my ability to listen to Fujii and Maki
I suppose that my interest in Fujii and Maki was piqued by reminders of my first encounter with free jazz at its freest, so to speak. That goes back to the first time that I listened to John Coltrane’s Ascension album on the radio. After that experience, I did not waste any time it getting myself a copy of that record! This was before the emergence of CD technology, meaning that the music was interrupted when I had to turn over the disc! Fortunately, the content has been remastered; and, as just about anyone would probably expect, the CD now has its own Amazon.com Web page. Furthermore, it is also available in two separate “editions” (otherwise known as “takes”) on the two-CD album The Major Works of John Coltrane.
It would be fair to say that my ability to focus and guide my attention to the many tracks I have encountered by both Fujii and Maki has been guided by my “training” through listening to Coltrane at his most adventurous.
