Satoko Fujii, a Pianist Who Finds Music Hidden in the Details of Life
In ensembles big and small, the prolific musician uses sound to make the world’s complexities a little more graspable.
Since the 1990s, Satoko Fujii has released close to 100 albums, mostly through her own Libra Records label.Credit.Kosuke Okahara for The New York Times
March 17, 2021
Whether she’s playing solo piano or leading one of her various large ensembles, the pianist and composer Satoko Fujii will tug you toward the details.
The leader of a dizzying array of ensembles both large and small, Fujii is arguably the most prolific pianist in jazz if also among the most underrecognized. Since the 1990s, she has released close to 100 albums, mostly through her own Libra Records label. Two years ago, celebrating her 60th birthday, a milestone known as “kanreki” in Japanese culture, she put out a new album each month, including both solo piano and big-band works.
Beneath Her Decorous Demeanor, âLady Bird Johnsonâ Was a Political Force
Lady Bird Johnson and President Lyndon B. Johnson at their Texas ranch, Christmas Day, 1963. Without someone with the former first ladyâs considerable gifts, Julia Sweig suggests in âLady Bird Johnson: Hiding in Plain Sight,â the expansive yet explosive 36th president might have found himself far less effective,Credit.White House Photo
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By Julia Sweig
We should all be so lucky as to have a Claudia Taylor, a.k.a. Lady Bird Johnson, in our lives, someone with the self-effacing graciousness of a geisha, the political shrewdness of Cleopatra, the intelligence of a Phi Beta Kappa and the caregiving skills of Florence Nightingale. Without someone with the former first ladyâs considerable gifts, the expansive yet explosive 36th president, Lyndon B. Johnson, might have found himself far less effective, while, owing mostly to the times, Lady Birdâs own aspirations had
In Dorset, Jasper Conranâs Garden Runs Wild
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/16/t-magazine/jasper-conran-garden-dorset-england.html
Allium, foxglove, chives, alchemilla and roses grow in Jasper Conranâs tangled garden.Credit.Simon Upton
In Dorset, Jasper Conranâs Garden Runs Wild
Set against the lush English countryside, the designerâs 17th-century home and its riotous plantings of magnificent blooms both defy and inspire his restrained elegance.
Allium, foxglove, chives, alchemilla and roses grow in Jasper Conranâs tangled garden.Credit.Simon Upton
March 16, 2021
AMONG JASPER CONRANâS most precious possessions is a signet ring given to him by his mother. Engraved with the Conran crest â a dove perched on two crossed snakes â it bears the motto âIn peace lies wisdom.â A lovely sentiment, to be sure, but considering the polymathic British designerâs wildly accomplished and famously unpeaceful family, itâs easy to infer
Affordable Housing Earns French Couple the Pritzker Prize
After more than 30 years of designing affordable new spaces out of existing structures, Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal have won architecture’s highest honor.
The architects Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal believe that every structure can be repurposed, reinvented, reinvigorated. Above, 53 low-rise apartment units in Saint-Nazaire, France.Credit.Philippe Ruault
Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal have never demolished a building in order to construct a new one.
The French architects, who are based in the Paris suburb of Montreuil, believe that every structure can be repurposed, reinvented, reinvigorated. Now, after 34 years of putting that approach into practice, they have won their field’s highest honor: the Pritzker Prize.