Tokyo-based spiritual jazz ensemble Sinsuke Fujieda Group will perform their first European performance on Saturday, 21 November, at Überjazz Festival 2026 in Germany. The jazz ensemble is coming to Hamburg with their full line-up of six musicians, led by saxophonist, flautist and composer Sinsuke Fujieda.
Überjazz Festival 2026 takes place from 19 to 21 November at Kampnagel K6 in Hamburg. Other artists who will appear at this festival on the same day as Sinsuke Fujieda Group are Sam Gendel & Sam Wilkes, AL.SO, and Simon Popp. The Überjazz Festival has been running since 2010 and features a programme rooted in jazz, whilst also offering a place for soul, hip-hop, ambient and experimental music.
Speaking about his group’s European live debut, Sinsuke Fujieda said: “Our records have connected us with listeners around the world, and I’m delighted that we can finally bring this music directly to a European audience with the full six-piece band. We’re also excited to discover how the music of Fukushima will resonate in Hamburg.”
Drawing on 1970s modal and spiritual jazz while incorporating classical and East Asian musical elements, the Tokyo-based group has developed a sound that stands apart and has resonated with jazz listeners and record collectors internationally. Fujieda founded the independent label SoFa Records in 2012 and oversees the production and release of all his works.
Sinsuke Fujieda Group’s line-up for Überjazz Festival 2026 will consist of Sinsuke Fujieda (saxophone, flute), Fumiko Takeshita (violin), Shinichi Tsukamoto (piano), Yutaka Kaido (bass), Kensaku Osumi (drums) and Yoshi Takemasa (percussion). During their performance at the festival, they will focus on the album Fukushima, which was released in 2025. The album, released in collaboration with the French label Superfly, was very well received internationally and is on its third pressing. Fukushima charted at number one on Juno Records’ jazz chart and Discogs’ Best-Selling New Releases chart, while the digital edition charted in 62 countries.
Last October, the jazz ensemble released a reissue of the album Informel on their own label, SoFa Records. It is a double LP, released in a limited first run of 1,000 copies, and features a re-edited and reconstructed live recording of one of their performances in Tokyo in 2020. The Sinsuke Fujieda Group already have plans in place for 2027 in terms of releases, including a CD version of Informel in January featuring a previously unreleased track, In Forest, and a new album, Abstraction Jazz Mode, due out in March, featuring material from the recording sessions for Fukushima.
