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.