Hiromi: Spark

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 a hyphenated word. It's just jazz. 3. You can't make and bake a cake in two minutes. Patience is its own reward.

Hiromi continues to be one of the most inventive and awe-inspiring pianists in jazz today. Phillips' drumming is alternatingly both dynamic and precise. Jackson is the silent partner of the band, but is the glue which holds it together so it doesn't fly apart into undisciplined soloing.

That's the risk involved in a Hiromi recording. At what point will her dazzling proficiency give way to just spraying notes all around the joint like an Eddie Van Halen freak-out turned up to "11" on the overkill scale? This is an entirely fair comparison. Hiromi can match a guitar god like Van Halen for speed, frenzy and mindless self-indulgence when she goes off.

"Spark" leads off with a gently synth/piano solo that takes off as soon as Phillips comes in and Hiromi engages in dueling leads as they chase each other in musical game of "tag." Good luck with figuring out what the time signature is. The stuttering stop-start of "In A Trance" shows off the favored approach of the Trio Project to jazz: aggressive, inventing and very, very fast and furious.

Even when "In A Trance" slows down to a more traditional approach, it isn't long before it reverts to the highly individualized nature of the players. Phillips launches into a drum solo, shows off some hot licks, and then ends up with some killer fills and cymbals work until Jackson and Hiromi come back in with a vaguely Latin piano riff.

Is "Indulgence" a playful jab at the naysayers who accuse the piansit of being more style than substance? Maybe so and maybe no, but whatever the intent it, along with "What Will Be, Will Be" is a showcase for Jackson's contrabass guitar work and some mighty fine funky grooves and the restrained solo piano piece "Wake Up and Dream" washes over the listener like warm spring rain.

Like it or not (and some jazzheads don't), Hiromi is much more than an programmed automaton who can play really fast. The rollicking closer "All's Well" is funky good fun which connects emotionally on every level. For jazz to resonate beyond its base it has to—repeat—has to develop and promote artists the way rock, pop and country does. It cannot thrive and will not survive unless the new generation is alerted of the new innovators residing among them just beyond their range of hearing. Hiromi is one of those innovators.

Oscar Peterson said, "Too many jazz pianists limit themselves to a personal style, a trademark, so to speak. They confine themselves to one type of playing. I believe in using the entire piano as a single instrument capable of expressing every possible musical idea. I have no one style. I play as I feel."

Hiromi Uehara is living what Peterson advised. Hers is the piano in the Spark.