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Ikue Mori

Ikue Mori moved from her native city of Tokyo to New York in 1977. She started playing drums and soon formed the seminal NO WAVE band DNA, with fellow noise pioneers Arto Lindsay and Tim Wright.

DNA enjoyed legendary cult status, while creating a new brand of radical rhythms and dissonant sounds; forever altering the face of rock music.

In the mid '80s Ikue started in employ drum machines in the unlikely context of improvised music. While limited to the standard technology provided by the drum machine, she has never the less forged her own highly sensitive signature style.

Through out in '90s She has subsequently collaborated with numerous improvisors throughout the US, Europe, and Asia, while continuing to produce and record her own music.

1998, She was invited to perform with Ensemble Modern as the soloist along with Zeena Parkins, and composer Fred Frith, also "One hundred Aspects of the Moon" commissioned by Roulette/Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust.

Ikue won the Distinctive Award for Prix Ars Electronics Digital Music category in 1999.

In 2000 Ikue started using the laptop computer to expand on her already signature sound, thus broadening her scope of musical expression. 2000 commissioned by the KITCHEN ensemble, wrote and premired the piece "Aphorism" also awarded Civitella Ranieri Foundation Fellowship.

2003 commissioned by RELACHE Ensemble to write a piece for film In the Street and premired in Philadelphia. Started working with visual played by the music since 2004. In 2005 Awarded Alphert/Ucross Residency.

Ikue received a grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts in 2006. In 2007 the Tate Modern commissioned Ikue to create a live sound track for screenings of Maya Deren's silent films. In 2008 Ikue celebrated her 30th year in NY and performed at the Japan Society. Recent commissioners include the Montalvo Arts Center and SWR German radio program and Shajah Art foundation in UAE. Current working groups include MEPHISTA with Sylvie Courvoisier and Susie Ibarra, PHANTOM ORCHARD with Zeena Parkins, project with Koichi Makigami and various ensembles of John Zorn.

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Album Review

Satoko Fujii: Hyaku: One Hundred Dreams

Read "Hyaku: One Hundred Dreams" reviewed by Alberto Bazzurro


Inciso al DiMenna Center di New York nel settembre 2022, questo album è forse il migliore, il più importante e ambizioso, realizzato dalla pianista giapponese in tempi recenti (e sappiamo quanto corposa sia la sua produzione da un po' di anni in qua). Basta, da subito, scorrere i nomi coinvolti nel progetto (in special modo il “grande vecchio" Wadada Leo Smith) per rendersene conto. La musica, poi, ci toglie da ogni dubbio o imbarazzo: siamo di fronte a un lavoro ...

3
Album Review

Satoko Fujii: Crustal Movement

Read "Crustal Movement" reviewed by Jeff Schwartz


In the first few minutes of “Masoandro Mitsoka," a soft wash of white noise becomes differentiated into piano, percussion, electronics and two trumpets as the acoustic instruments move from breath and friction sounds to identifiably instrumental ones. Next the ensemble reduces to the trumpets, and they move from parallel play to a clear conversation. When piano, percussion and electronics return, they function as a free jazz rhythm section, backing one trumpet, then both, then the other. Instrumental ...

12
Album Review

Kaze & Ikue Mori: Crustal Movement

Read "Crustal Movement" reviewed by Karl Ackermann


Crustal Movement is the seventh album from the Peter Orins/Satoko Fujii founded quartet-turned-quintet, Kaze. Now billed as Kaze & Ikue Mori, it represents the second consecutive album from the French- Japanese collective where the electronics artist has played a significant role. The two trumpeters, and original group members, Natsuki Tamura, and Christian Pruvost round out the group. Over the course of more than ten years, Kaze, and their one-time extended sextet, Trouble Kaze, have played at the outer ...

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Album Review

Satoko Fujii: Hyaku: One Hundred Dreams

Read "Hyaku: One Hundred Dreams" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


Country music artist Merle Haggard (1937 -2016) released 66 studio albums in his day, along with five instrumental recordings and several live and compilation discs. When asked in a late-career interview if his upcoming album was a good one, he answered (paraphrasing). “I don't know. I've made so many I don't know if the next one's any good or not." He was probably pulling the interviewer's leg. It is hard to imagine an artist presenting a new work ...

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Album Review

Yuko Fujiyama: Quiet Passion

Read "Quiet Passion" reviewed by John Sharpe


American-based Japanese pianist Yuko Fujiyama has recorded sparingly over a 40-year career, so the arrival of Quiet Passion, only the fourth date under her leadership, is an occasion to perk up the ears. Also noteworthy is the unusual instrumentation she has chosen, supplementing her piano with the cornet of Graham Haynes and electronics of Ikue Mori. The resultant 13 cuts constitute a deeply personal album, introspective but simmering with pent up emotion and steely determination. Like many ...

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Radio & Podcasts

Electro-Acoustic works, SHHH/Peaceful, Latin sounds and Ellingtonia

Read "Electro-Acoustic works, SHHH/Peaceful, Latin sounds and Ellingtonia" reviewed by David Brown


This week, Latin sounds, Ellingtonia, Electro-Acoustic Jazz and SHHH/Peaceful. Playlist Thelonious Monk “Esistrophy (Theme)" from Live at the It Club-Complete (Columbia) 01:30 Jason Moran “You've Got to be Modernistic" from Modernistic (Blue Note) 02:10 Matthew Shipp Trio “World Construct" from World Construct (ESP Disk) 07:57 Marta Sanchez “The Eternal Stillness" from SAAM (Spanish American Art Museum) (Spanish American Art Museum) 18:17 Andrew Hill “Afternoon in Paris" from Verona Rag (Soul Note) 25:49 Nubya Garcia “La Cumbia Me Está ...

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Album Review

Yuko Fujiyama, Graham Haynes, Ikue Mori: Quiet Passion

Read "Quiet Passion" reviewed by Mark Corroto


Pianist Yuko Fujiyama does not routinely release music. When she does, it is always for a special purpose. This trio recording, Quiet Passion, was preceded by Night Wave (Innova Recordings, 2018) and, like her previous album, she is joined by cornetist Graham Haynes. The trio is completed by fellow Japanese- born expatriate Ikue Mori a longtime mainstay of New York's Downtown scene. Fujiyama, a Cecil Taylor devotee, has maintained the essence of Taylor's art but, through the years, she has ...

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Performance / Tour

Jazz this week: Mike Stern & Kimberly Thompson, George Sams, Ralph Towner, Ikue Mori & Nate Wooley, Russell Gunn, and more

Jazz this week: Mike Stern & Kimberly Thompson, George Sams, Ralph Towner, Ikue Mori & Nate Wooley, Russell Gunn, and more

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

As you might be able to deduce from looking at the headline for this post, it's very busy week for jazz and creative music in St. Louis. Over the next few days, there will be a plethora of visiting performers on local stages, plus the opening of a play about one of the most famous jazz singers ever, free master classes from two guitar greats, and more. Let's go to the highlights... Wednesday, February 15 Guitarist Mike Stern performs for ...

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Video / DVD

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Ikue Mori & Nate Wooley

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Ikue Mori & Nate Wooley

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

This week's grab-bag of videos features electronic musician Ikue Mori and trumpeter Nate Wooley, who will be performing in a concert presented by New Music Circle next Saturday, February 18 at The Luminary. Mori, 63, is a Japanese native who first gained recognition in the late 1970s as the drummer for the NYC-based “No Wave" band DNA. She subsequently began working with drum machines and electronics, eventually abandoning the drums entirely for a laptop computer, which remains her preferred instrument. ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Crustal Movement

Circum-Disc
2023

buy

Quiet Passion

Intakt Records
2022

buy

Hyaku: One Hundred...

Libra Records
2022

buy

A Mountain Doesn't...

Intakt Records
2021

buy

Sandstorm

Circum-Disc
2020

buy

Prickly Pear Cactus

Libra Records
2020

buy

One Hundred Dreams Part 1

From: Hyaku: One Hundred Dreams
By Ikue Mori

Prickly Pear Cactus

From: Prickly Pear Cactus
By Ikue Mori

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