CD/LP/Track Review

Kayo Hiraki: I Wish You Love (2011)

By
C. MICHAEL BAILEY,
C. Michael Bailey

C. Michael Bailey

Senior Contributor since 1997

...wants to know if Gene Harris is playing "Summertime" in Heaven...

Recent articles (1,709 total)

Published: June 30, 2011
Kayo Hiraki: I Wish You Love Track review of "Ceora"

Japanese pianist Kayo Hiraki is in search of her audience. She has self-released a smart set of standards in the trio format that is garnering attention from all quarters of the jazz writing world. A ballad specialist, to be sure, Hiraki resists the modern impulse to deconstruct, keeping the tunes intact and in congress with the composers' intentions.

To have been composed by a horn player, Lee MorganLee Morgan Lee Morgan
1938 - 1972
trumpet
's balladic "Ceora" translates well to the standard jazz piano trio format. Pianist Kayo Hiraki has a light-as-a-feather feel for the piece, presenting it in a straight-ahead fashion, eschewing Thelonious MonkThelonious Monk Thelonious Monk
1917 - 1982
piano
and Horace SilverHorace Silver Horace Silver
b.1928
piano
allusions in favor of her own dependable harmonic ear. Her approach is a light samba, kept mostly in Pat O'LearyPat O'Leary Pat O'Leary
's bass and Matthew Crawford's light Latin drumming. Hard bop never was so soft.

Personnel: Kayo Hiraki: piano, Pat O'Leary: bass; Matthew Crawford: drums.


Style: Classical

comments powered by Disqus

Weekly Giveaways

Will Calhoun

Will Calhoun
About | Enter

Verve Jazz Ensemble

Verve Jazz Ensemble
About | Enter

Sinan Bakir

Sinan Bakir
About | Enter

Joshua Redman

Joshua Redman
About | Enter