Hiromi: Another Mind

Is there any hype out there about pianist Hiromi? There should be—she's a major new talent, brimming with originality and musical joy.

From the opening notes of the first trio cut, "XYZ," it's obvious that something special is going on here. Hiromi Uehara has a million stories, and she tells them with all her heart and soul. There is a brash urgency in "XYZ"; but with Hiromi, perhaps brash is too harsh a word. It seems more the ebullient self assurance of a young artist in the throes of creative rapture.

All the songs on Another Mind are Hiromi originals. The second cut, the eleven minute- plus "Double Personality," goes through several personality changes. It starts out fusion- tinted, like something from the Miles Davis/Marcus Miller collaborations of the late eighties, or from the Chick Corea Electric Band of the same era. Very crisp, sharp-edged alto sax work from Jim Odgren, followed by Dave Fiuczynski's tortured guitar moans, lead into Hiromi's delicate bird flight of a solo that morphs into a driving freight train groove that races back into the fusion side of sound.

"Summer Rain" is a quartet outing—Ogren on alto sax again—and this one must have been a something to watch (performed live, like all the takes). Hiromi just bounces with energy. On her solo she—like Chick Corea—conveys the attitude of considering absolutely anything possible with those eighty-eight keys.

The remaining numbers are all trio outings—with one exception, the whimsically complex bonus track, "Tom and Jerry"—that sound BIG or delicate and nuanced, lush or spare. "Truth or Lies" is a highlight, with a dark mood pervading, as though maybe the lies are winning this one battle.

With one listen to Another Mind it's clear that Hiromi, though only twenty-four years old, is the real thing: a multi-faceted and remarkably original talent. Her musical training—Yamaha Music School, Berklee—has laid a broad foundation without constraining her joyous musical heart or slowing the bubbling flow of her musical ideas.

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