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Hiromi: Hiromi & Edmar Castaneda Live In Montreal

By Jeff Winbush

Here's a good rule of thumb to consider when reviewing a jazz record and by that, I mean any jazz record. Jazz music is live music so if it sounds good in the studio will it sound even better on the stage? In other words, if you're willing to pay $50 for a ticket, you're probably not getting burned spending $15 for a record. Of course, if it's a live album and Hiromi & Edmar Castenda/Live in Montreal ...

Hiromi and Edmar Castaneda at Blue Note Milano

By Carlo Mogavero

Hiromi at the Catalina Jazz Club

By Jim Worsley

Hiromi TrioCatalina Jazz Club Hollywood, CA August 6, 2017 We were amongst only a handful of early arrivals for a show at the Catalina Jazz Club in North Hollywood CA. A quite casually dressed Asian woman was on the stage carefully cleaning and fussing about on the piano. Her shoulder length hair covered much of her face as she leaned over and delicately manicured this fine instrument. A few minutes had passed when she turned ...

Hiromi: The Trio Project at the Annenberg Center Live

By Geno Thackara

Hiromi: The Trio Project Annenberg Center Live jny: Philadelphia, PA April 1, 2016 She walks onstage without a word, makes sure to gesture towards the other players for their share of applause, and gives the cheering a minute to subside before getting down to business. The first song starts with a light cascade of high piano notes, the kind of slow intro that could usher in a classic acoustic set from any era. The crowd ...

Hiromi: Spark

By Jeff Winbush

There are three reasons why some people will not enjoy Spark, the fourth album from the Trio Project featuring Hiromi Uehara, the Japanese-born pianist and composer and drummer Simon Phillips and bassist Anthony Jackson:1. It's too complex. 2. It rocks too hard to be jazz. 3. It's long (72 minutes).None of these are good reasons. Here are three reasons which are good ones.1. Simplicity has its place. So does complexity. 2. Jazz is not ...

Hiromi: Alive

By Jeff Winbush

If jazz has become a niche market in the music industry (and it is), a contributing factor for its slide into cultural irrelevance is a failure to promote and support new artists. No matter what sub-genre of jazz you personally love, across the board there is no sustained effort to develop a roster of first-tier talent in jazz. Every so often along comes a Esperanza Spalding who joins the long list of previous “saviors" of jazz such as Wynton Marsalis ...

Hiromi: Move

By Glenn Astarita

Keyboardist Hiromi once again reaps the benefits of her superstar rhythmic section, drummer Simon Phillips (The Who, Toto, David Gilmour) and contrabassist Anthony Jackson (Paul Simon, Chick Corea, Steely Dan). A largely acoustic set, she yields an action-packed schema, teeming with intricately designed arrangements while zooming in for the kill on many occasions. However, Hiromi's breadth of scope is rather monolithic, since her arrangements are of the whirlwind variety, where nuance, tonal shadings and ballad-like intricacies complement and contrast her ...

Hiromi: Move

By Jeff Winbush

In a world where the path to commercial success is to play it safe and keep faith in formula, it is only within jazz where being unpredictable is not only a virtue, but an expectation. Hiromi marks her first decade of music-making on her terrific ninth album, Move featuring her Trio Project with bassist Anthony Jackson and drummer Simon Phillips.Reunited with Jackson and Phillips for a second outing after 2011's superb Voice, (Telarc, 2011) the two veteran musicians ...

Hiromi: The Voice Inside

By Ian Patterson

What is a voice? How much of people's voices are really their own? After all, language acquisition is derived from successful imitation. Artists of all stripes may labor for years to find their true voice and express themselves as they desire. Even the greatest artists go through a process--often painful--of imitation, refinement and, finally, emergence. The young trumpeter Miles Davis of the '40s was a pale shadow of Dizzy Gillespie, before upping anchor and heading off in his own liberating ...

Hiromi: Voice

By Ian Patterson

Hiromi's Voice--her seventh album for Telarc--carries the hallmarks of her previous works: prodigious piano playing, a dash of electro-funk, and strong melodic hooks, served up in a power trio setting. What has changed is the personnel, with Hiromi's rhythm section since' 04 of drummer Martin Valihora and bassist Tony Grey making way for all-rounder Simon Phillips on drums and the innovative Anthony Jackson, on contrabass guitar. Phillips, who impressed most recently on the Trilok Gurtu/NDR Big Band recording 21 Spices ...

Hiromi: Voice

By Jeff Winbush

If there's no guitar are you playing rock n' roll? If there's no singing does it make any sense to call an album Voice? Sure it does because after all, this is a Hiromi record and, while there is no guitar within earshot, there is plenty of rocking and rolling going on.Voice is not--repeat---not a rock album or a jazz-rock album--or fusion or any other such hybrid. It's a jazz record and the seventh Hiromi album is much ...

Hiromi: Place To Be

By Jeff Winbush

Some musicians take the tortured artist thing too far. With their on-stage, “in the zone" demeanor, some pianists look as if they're on the verge of a heart attack. If they relaxed a bit would anyone think less of them? Hiromi Uehara is certainly a serious musician yet never leaves the impression of taking herself too seriously. She's having too much fun for that.By any measurement, her last two years have been busy. Backed by her band, Hiromi's ...