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.