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Hiromi
Japan has produced an impressive assemblage of jazz pianists, from Toshiko Akiyoshi and Makoto Ozone. And now, well into the change of the 21st century, the pianist/composer Hiromi is the latest in that line of amazing musicians. Ever since the 2003 release of her debut Telarc CD, Another Mind, Hiromi has electrified audiences and critics east and west, with a creative energy that encompasses and eclipses the boundaries of jazz, classical and pop parameters, taking improvisation and composition to new heights of complexity and sophistication. Her latest album, the vivid solo piano outing Spectrum, offers a dazzling evocation of the vibrant array of colors that imbue her music.
With her 2009 solo debut Place to Be, Hiromi decided to go it alone once a decade in order to capture the ways in which her experiences and personal growth had shaped her sound during the preceding years. Recorded on the eve of her 40th birthday, Spectrum celebrates the maturity and depth that have enriched Hiromi’s composing and playing over the course of her 30s, years in which she’s crisscrossed the globe thrilling audiences and embarked on collaborations with some of jazz’s most inventive artists.
“The sound of a pianist changes with age and with every experience in life,” Hiromi says. “I wanted to set these milestones so that I can see from the outside how I’ve changed and grown.”
Born in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan on March 26, 1979, Hiromi’s piano lessons started when she was six. Her first teacher, Noriko Hikida, encouraged her to access both the intuitive and technical aspects of music, introducing the concept of color to her approach to the piano. “Her energy was always so high, and she was so emotional,” Hiromi says of Hikida. “When she wanted me to play with a certain kind of dynamics, she wouldn’t say it with technical terms. If the piece was something passionate, she would say, ‘Play red.’ Or if it was something mellow, she would say, ‘Play blue.’ I could really play from my heart that way, and not just from my ears.”
Hikida also exposed Hiromi to jazz and introduced her to the great pianists Erroll Garner and Oscar Peterson. She enrolled in the Yamaha School of Music at age six and started to write music at that time.
Hiromi moved to the United States in 1999, and she matriculated at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, which extended her artistic sensibilities. “It expanded so much the way I see music,” she says. “Some people dig jazz, some people dig classical music, some people dig rock. Everyone is so concerned about who they like. They always say, ‘This guy is the best,’ ‘No, this guy is the best.’ But I think there are so many great ones. I really don’t have barriers to any type of music. I could listen to everything from metal to classical music to anything else.”
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Hiromi's Sonicwonder At SFJAZZ
by Chuck Lenatti
Hiromi's SonicwonderSFJAZZ, Miner AuditoriumSan Francisco, CAApril 14, 2024 Hiromi and her merry band of simpatico sonic warriors concluded their jny: San Francisco run at SFJAZZ's Miner Auditorium with an exhilarating jolt of electricity as they dove into their latest release, Sonicwonderland (Concord Records, 2023). The uniquely coiffed pianist wore a bright yellow dress over black tights and cute sneakers and was in perpetual motion throughout the show. Sonic" is code for plugged in. ...
Continue ReadingHiromi, Mike Reed, Weave4, Astghik Martirosyan, Todd Clouser & More
by Ludovico Granvassu
Putting together an episode of Mondo Jazz feels like an experiment, requiring research and analysis leading to a synthesis of the most interesting specimens from the current world jazz flora. Here some of the most significant discoveries of the last week.Happy listening!Playlist Ben Allison Mondo Jazz Theme (feat. Ted Nash & Pyeng Threadgill)" 0:00 Todd Clouser Bored Folks" The Mexico City Experiment (Ropeadope) 0:16 Host talks 5:53 Shake Stew Shasta Fey" Lila (Traumton) 8:38 Mike Reed ...
Continue ReadingPianist's Aziza Mustafa Zadeh, Hiromi, Erik Escobar, Lydian Nadsharawam and Cameron Graves.
by Len Davis
Music from piano players including Aziza Mustafa Zadeh, Lydian Nadhaswaram, Erik Escobar, Cameron Graves and Hiromi. New releases, from Spanish bassist Vincen Garcia, Sherinian/Phillips Live, Polish guitarist Apostolis Anthimos and Pete McCann from Without question. Playlist Aziza Mustafa Zadeh Dangerous Piece" from Always (Columbia) 00:00 Lydian Nadshawaram Spot" from Chromatic Gramatic (Amly) 06:49 Erik Escobar Homanjae al Gran Maestro Gonzalo" from Erik Escobar (Self Produced) 13:40 Cameron Graves Red-Live" from Live From the Seven Spheres (Mack Avenue) 20:24 ...
Continue Reading2023 Freihofer's Saratoga Jazz Festival
by Richard Conde
Celebrating its 46th anniversary over the June 24th weekend, the 2023 Freihofer's Saratoga Jazz Festival at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs New York, featured a great program presenting a wide range of music. Over 20 featured artist played over two days across two stages with headliner Cindy Blackman Santana taking the Amphitheater stage Saturday. Others featured included Snarky Puppy, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Emmet Cohen, Claudia Acuna, Pat Metheny, Hiromi, Melissa Aldana, Mark Guiliana, Samara Joy, Chucho Valdes, Angelique ...
Continue ReadingBilly Cobham from Power Play, Bunny Brunel and Dwiki Dharwarman
by Len Davis
Music from 1986 from Billy Cobham, bassist Bunny Brunel from Invent Your Future, Chris Minh Doky live in Europe, from Indonesia keyboardist Dwiki Dharmawan, plus Gary Husband, Hiromi and the late Japanese drummer Kozo Suganuma.Playlist Billy Cobham Summit Afrique" from Power Play (GRP) 00:00 Bunny Brunel Fickle Funk" from Invent Your Future (Nikaia) 06:29 Chris Minh Doky-and the Nomads The Jam" from The Board Tapes (Red Dot) 13:09 Dwiki Dharmawan So Far So Close" from So Far So ...
Continue ReadingJazz In Marciac 2022
by Martin McFie
Le Chapiteau, L'Astrada, Jgo Jazz in Marciac Marciac, Southern France July 22 to August 6, 2022 The 43rd annual Jazz in Marciac festival welcomed a quarter million concert visitors to the 13th century French village of Marciac (population 1,247). Jazz in Marciac comes late and runs long in the European tour season, which makes the nightmare of scheduling top-of-the-line musicians a little easier. Here is a capsule look at the highlights from the 2022 ...
Continue ReadingDimas Pradipta, Pablo Held, Clerq, Hiromi
by Len Davis
Indonesian drummer Dimas Pradipta, from Germany Pablo Held, and from Japan Senri Kawaguchi and Hiromi.Playlist Dimas Pradipta 1 Year Later" from Extension (BeatLuz) 00:00 Pablo Held Thorn Of A White Rose" from Meet Me At The Loft (Hopalit) 07:11 Gabriel Santiago Gimmee 5" from Upright (Self Produced) 14:27 Clerq Spherical" from Spherical (nEscapes) 21:40 Confusion Project"Anxiety" from Last (Self Produced) 28:48 Senri Kawaguchi Wupatki" from Live in Yokohama (King) 36:01 Hiromi Alive" from Alive (Telarc) 43:23 Marbin The ...
Continue ReadingJazz Face: Hiromi, Virtuosity in Service to Art
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JazzINK by Andrea Canter
So what's so bad about being so good? Ever since she burst onto the jazz scene nearly a decade ago, pianist Hiromi Uhera has experienced from what I will call the Oscar Peterson curse—criticism for her unashamed displays of technical virtuosity. Peterson in fact was an early supporter, as were Ahmad Jamal and Chick Corea. Three of the greatest jazz pianists to walk the earth saw what most critics and audiences are now able to recognize—beneath her razzle-dazzle physical skill ...
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Japanese Jazz Pianist Hiromi Electrifies at the Annenberg Center
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AAJ Staff
Philadelphia, PA: The Annenberg Center continues its thrilling 40th Anniversary Season with the debut of Japanese jazz prodigy Hiromi, November 12, 2011 at 8 PM. With a penchant for taking the stage in a blow-your-hair-back display of drama and athleticism," Hiromi's infectious and brazen energy defies the conventional parameters of jazz and pushes musicianship and composition to unprecedented levels of sophistication (NPR). This is not your average jazz performance. Tickets start at $20. For tickets or for more information, please ...
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Jazz This Week: Stanley Clarke and Hiromi, Sister Swing, "O That Jazz," Hard Bop Heritage, and More
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St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
While the worst of this week's winter storm seems to have missed the immediate St. Louis area, it has caused travel problems throughout the region, with many businesses closing and a number of events canceled, postponed or rescheduled. Most notably for local jazz fans, bassist Stanley Clarke and keyboardist Hiromi were scheduled to begin a series of duo shows tonight at Jazz at the Bistro, but the inclement weather prevented them from flying in on schedule. That forced them to ...
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Hiromi is the Hendrix of the Piano.
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The Domino Theory by Jeff Winbush
I don't get jazz sexism. I used to read Down Beat magazine and my favorite section was the blindfold test where notable artists would listen to tunes selected for them to critique. When you got someone like Miles Davis listening to something he thought was crap he wasn't shy about saying so. What I don't remember even Miles at his meanest saying, Take that shit off. That bitch can't play." Name an instrument and if there's a man who is ...
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Hiromi Kanda Transforms the Great American Songbook
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Michael Ricci
Hiromi Kanda doesn't just sing the standards, she embodies them. On her new album, Hiromi In Love-to be released March 16th on the Music Gate label -and the sensational videos that accompany the recordings, due April 13th on DVD, the stirring vocalist transforms each classic into a work of art. With an elegant visual style that matches the grandeur of the songs-timeless Great American Songbook gems such as My Funny Valentine, In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning, ...
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Jazz Pianist Hiromi Travels Light on Her New Solo Album
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All About Jazz @ Spinner
By Tad Hendrickson
About a month ago, I reviewed an Oscar Peterson tribute that took place at Carnegie Hall. It was a night of wonderful music from pianists Kenny Baron, Roger Kellaway and Hiromi Uehara in solo performances. The darling of the night was the Japanese lady who came off as a sort of jazz artist as anime with her funky blouse, sneakers and a ponytail that whipped around as she played. More important, her chops were electrifying for their ...
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Hiromi Chronicles Her World Travels on Her First Solo Piano Recording
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Michael Ricci
Place To Be set for release on January 26, 2010 If all the world is indeed a stage, pianist-composer Hiromi Uehara has played on just about every corner of it. Since the beginning of the decade, she has supported her impressive body of studio work with an ambitious tour schedule that has electrified audiences throughout the U.S., Europe, Asia and elsewhere with performances that have pushed the limits of piano jazz to new frontiers of compositional and technical skills. Each ...
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Tradition Leaping to the Sky
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Michael Ricci
Hiromi began her first set at the Blue Note on Tuesday night with a head fake, unaccompanied at the piano. She was playing an old tune, “Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise,” in a vintage stride style: rakish downbeat, rolling tremolos, walking tenths, the whole deal. But then her band clicked into gear, and the song became a new-age dreamscape, gauzy and grandiose, alternating four and three beats to the bar. The shift was deliberately jarring. A similar thing happens ...
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Yaron Herman Trio + Hiromi + Tineke Postma Quartet Featuring Geri Allen and Terri Lyne Carrington
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All About Jazz
Friday 10 July 7.30pm Yaron Herman Trio + Hiromi + Tineke Postma Quartet featuring Geri Allen and Terri Lyne Carrington Tickets 10/15 Produced by the Barbican in association with Serious Part of Blaze Barbican Jazz plays host to three rapidly rising jazz stars, all making their London concert debut following impressive club shows over the past year. Tineka Postma has emerged as a leading light in a new generation of Dutch jazz players, a massively gifted saxophonist and composer who ...
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