New Solo Album from Vibraphonist Taiko Saito

Those familiar with my efforts to keep track of the many activities of jazz pianist Satoko Fujii probably know that she constitutes half of the Futari duo, the other half being vibraphonist Taiko Saito. During the COVID pandemic, Saito was based in Berlin, while Fujii was in Japan. Nevertheless, they created an album entitled Underground, whose tracks were developed through a process of exchanging files over the Internet.

Taiko Saito playing marimba (photograph by Cristina Marx)

Today Trouble in the East Records (which is also based in Berlin) released a solo album, entitled Tears of a Cloud, of Saito performing on both marimba and vibraphone. The above hyperlink leads to the Bandcamp Web page, which is currently selling the digital album with tracks in MP3 and FLAC, along with unlimited streaming through a free app provided by Bandcamp. As of this writing, the only physical medium is a vinyl record; and those purchasing it will also have download access.

The Web page says nothing about a booklet. However, the better part of that booklet is an extended essay about Saito written by Fumie Tsuji ; and that essay is reproduced in its entirety on the Bandcamp Web page. Ironically, the booklet consists of only four pages, none of which include the track listing. To the best of my knowledge, the Bandcamp Web page is the only source for that content. The most valuable page in the booklet consists of Saito’s comments about the music she composed for the album. However, those comments account for only eight of the nine tracks.

Nevertheless, all that really matters is the wide diversity of musical ideas that cover the album’s nine tracks. Most compositions (and improvisations) for the two instruments that Saito plays tend to be structured around themes and the motifs that serve as building blocks for those themes. Saito, on the other hand, is more interested in sonorities, most of which arise from different ways in which the individual bars of the instrument are struck. There is also one track, “Underground I,” on which she exchanges her mallets for a double bass bow. (The length of that particular bow provides more opportunities for cultivating sonorities than a shorter one can.)

I have Steve Reich to thank for introducing me to new and imaginative techniques applied to both marimba and vibraphone. As a result, I could approach this new album well-prepared for encountering a “new generation” of sonorities from these instruments through new performance techniques. Most likely, each iteration in listening to these tracks will turn up new sound qualities that had been previously missed.