Mitsuru Tanaka

Rougequeue is a 2015 mini-album from pianist Fumie Chiba that features five of her original songs, three with jazz combos (septet, sextet, and trio), and two solo piano tracks. The uncommon word used for the album title is a French word for redstart, a small, colorful bird with a reddish-orange tail. Once the title is parsed and read as roozh-kew, it becomes easier to see and hear, but it maintains its aura of mystery and beauty. Even the word’s letters themselves seem to align, dip, and extend with a certain intentional pattern. The bird image and concepts are also easily applied to the five compositions contained under that title, music that is wonderfully vivid and that can take flight. ...

On her fourth and latest album Beautiful Days (2017), pianist Fumie Chiba records eleven new compositions with a jazz sextet, a piano trio plus trumpet, sax, and vocals. While her first two albums Tip of Dream (2009) and Echoes (2013) featured her jazz trio, the expanded group on her previous Roguequeue (2015) and on this album well suits the textures she strives for. Freshness and energy flow through the rich harmonies and interplay with attention paid to the compositional detail throughout the music. ...