Cover of the album being discussed (courtesy of Braithwaite & Katz Communications)
This coming Friday will see the release of the second album of performances by the Satoko Fujii Orchestra Berlin. When I wrote about the first album, Ninety-Nine Years at the very end of 2025, I observed that the ensemble was more of a “small big band,” rather than an orchestra. In the new album, entitled Second Attempt, the ensemble has grown, but only marginally. The primary difference involves the introduction of Liz Kosack performing on a synthesizer. The album will be released this coming Friday, and it can currently be purchased through a Web page on the CDs Vinyl Japan Store Web site.
While Ninety-Nine Years consisted of five independent tracks, one of which was entitled “Ninety-Nine Years,” Second Attempt is basically a full-length “suite” in five “parts,” each of them having its own track on the album. Does this offer a significant change from the five “independent” tracks on Ninety-Nine Years? To be perfectly honest, I am not sure! I have now accumulated a generous number of Fujii albums; and I usually listen to any of them from beginning to end, rather than dwelling on individual tracks.
I suppose that the title of Second Attempt reflected Fujii’s desire to get this particular band “back together again.” Adding Kosack’s synthesizer does not make for a significant change in the overall dispositions of the performers and the music they create. In other words, I came away from listening to Second Attempt, with the satisfaction of listing to a band I had previously enjoyed in Ninety-Nine Years getting back together again!
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