Michika Fukumori - Eternity and a Day

[GA Russell]

Michika Fukumori Brings Renewed Hope and Confidence To "Eternity and a Day," To Be Released June 6 By Summit Records Pianist-Composer's Fourth Album Features Seven Original Compositions, Four Beloved Standards In a Trio with Bassist Steve Whipple & Drummer Adam Nussbaum   April 22, 2025 Pianist-composer Michika Fukumori’s increasing assurance and inherent optimism both come to the fore on Eternity and a Day, her marvelous fourth album, set for a June 6 release on Summit Records. A trio album featuring bassist Steve Whipple and esteemed drummer Adam Nussbaum, it also includes four jazz standards and seven original compositions—the first record on which her own writing forms the majority. It is also the first of Fukumori’s albums on which she serves as her own producer.   Hence her rising confidence as both an artist and a technician is clear. The optimism, too, is readily apparent with just a listen. Indeed, one can see the hope emanating out of some of her titles, including “Another Tomorrow,” “Our Future (Reiwa),” and “There Is Always Light.” Fukumori also locates it in the album’s title track.   “While an ordinary day can feel eternal, its fleeting nature reminds us to cherish and live each day deeply,” she says. “This idea permeates the entire album, offering a message of embracing each moment with light in our hearts and a sense of purpose.” The music does just that. “Acaso” immediately evokes joy in its sprightly Brazilian rhythm and sunny, eager melodic trajectory. Both “Another Tomorrow” and “Port (The Departure)” ring with the readiness for a new adventure. And perhaps no other track redounds with hope and embrace of the day more than “The Light of Dawn,” a beautiful, graceful reminder of the bliss that comes with seeing in a new morning.   It’s not just Fukumori’s formidable originals that express these sentiments, however. One can’t miss them in the carefree raptures of Fats Waller’s “Jitterbug Waltz,” the breathless romance of Nicholas Brodzky and Sammy Cahn’s “Be My Love,” or even the ingenious interweaving of Chopin’s “Prelude Op. 28, No. 4” with Jobim’s “How Insensitive.” The pieces are as carefully chosen and deftly executed as Fukumori’s originals, another example of Eternity and a Day’s assured grasp of jazz tradition. Michika Fukumori was born in the city of Iga, Mie Prefecture, on Japan’s main island of Honshu. She grew up in a small rural town nearby. She was only three years old when she began playing piano; by the time she was six, she was composing her own melodies. Initially studying classical music, she quickly found a passion for jazz as well.   Still, classical composition was Fukumori’s field of choice when she matriculated at Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Arts and Music. But that was only the beginning of her studies. Upon graduating from Aichi Prefectural, she moved to Tokyo, where she fell under the tutelage of celebrated jazz pianist Colgen Suzuki and began a jazz piano career of her own. She worked in the various clubs in Japan’s capital city while continuing her studies with Suzuki (learning how to arrange for big bands in the process).   Arriving in New York in 2000 to study music at City College of New York, Fukumori found herself a protégée of jazz titans Geri Allen and Ron Carter—and also engaged piano master Steve Kuhn, her personal hero, as a private teacher (a role he would maintain for nearly two decades).   Earning her master’s degree from CCNY in 2003, Fukumori built a reputation and an audience working at New York’s top-tier jazz clubs: Lenox Lounge, Cleopatra’s Needle, Antique Garage, Arturo’s, Jazz at Kitano, Zinc Bar, and the legendary Blue Note. She also began a tradition of annual visits to her homeland, where she has a separate but no less enthusiastic following.   Fukumori recorded her first album, Infinite Thoughts—a collection of standards and her original title track—in 2004, in a stellar trio with bassist David Finck and drummer Billy Drummond. Her next effort, 2016’s Quality Time (joined again by Drummond along with bassist Aidan O’Connell), included four originals, while her solo recording Piano Images (2018) brought the quotient up to half originals, half standards. On Eternity and a Day, for which Fukumori also serves as producer, her own compositions outnumber standards for the first time.   Fukumori’s upcoming NYC performance schedule includes the following: Sun. 5/4 & Sun. 5/18 Arturo’s, 106 W. Houston St. (solo, 7-11pm); Sat. 5/17 & Sat. 5/24, Antique Garage Tribeca, 313 Church St. (trio, 7-10pm); Sun. 6/1, Sun. 6/22, & Sun. 6/29 Arturo’s (solo, 7-11pm). She has also booked a tour of Japan 8/21-9/21.   

EPK: Michika Fukumori "Eternity and a Day" 

Michika Fukumori Website