Remember guys, she composed and arranged this and wrote out the charts. This is a musician's musician. And her emotional range from funk to pure open spaciousness is, IMHO, unrivaled.
Her mentor was Oscar Peterson, who she met up with several time after she was introduced to him on his tour in Japan. She wrote a ballad dedicated to him and when she performed it as she was playing was in tears. Such feeling in her playin as well as technique. An astounding talent. The only piano player i seriously listen to at the moment, errr , thats a 10 year moment btw. I will search for the ballad and her best solo, some of the element she used in this solo, same band too, and tour , perhaps even same concert.
Nice review. I discovered Hiromi in 2012 and have been hopelessly enthralled by her ever since. Yes, she plays a lot of notes, but the way she does it, it usually enhances rather than detracts from the piece. And remember that she composes the songs too and masterfully fuses so many genres. She's a genius!
I like to imagine her going back in time to those cutting contests in the early jazz days where Waller, Tatum, Willie Smith, et al would take turns showing off their technique. Imagine the reactions as this petite Japanese woman takes the stage. She'd probably pretend she couldn't play for the first 30 seconds and then suddenly do a double handed run of 32nd notes
The Principles of Aesthetics can be so evolving. I personally have come to accept an ever-widening broad range of artists, particularly pianists, whom I enjoy listening to, more so than others (i.e., "One man's preference for PB&J is another man's preference for Pastrami-on-Rye!"). Some of my favorites are Bud Powell, Erroll Garner, Nat King Cole (yep, many forget how great a "piana-playa" he was!), the inimitable Mister Bill Evans, the inimitable pianist/singer Tania Maria (I personally nicknamed her "Funky Diva" lol), and like your friend Chris, I too love to listen to Eliane Elias, and then there is Gilson Peranzzetta from Brasil, Bob James forever-and-a-day (with Fourplay and pre-Fourplay), and ever more recently Eldar Djangirov and of course Miss Hiromi Uehara (oo-ay-har-ah). My friend, who schooled with Esperanza Spalding (Acoustic/Electric Bass) at Berklee, performed with Eldar on his "Live at The Blue Note" CD years back, in addition to performing on the tune "Remember When" with Eldar on his "Re-imagination" CD. I once asked him, "Why does Eldar play so fast?" and he simply said, "Because that's what he's feeling at the moment." Fair enough, yes? In my humble opinion -- I grew up playing Clarinet, then switched to piano at age 16 followed up with two years of Classical study -- I would say that Eldar and Hiromi both are hybrid players, bringing with them world-class Classical chops, (check out Eldar's cover of Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" here on RU-vid, and you will be amazed!), honed with jazz/jazz harmony skills as well as lush polyrhythmic sensibilities (check out Hiromi's tune "Time Difference" here on RU-vid) which make their personal compositions exuberant, vibrant, rich and full of life.
At the age of 8yo , she learned Flight Of The Bumble Bee, for a challenge with her piano teacher, so she could move into jazz which she loved. Sh has won a Grammy for an arrangement of a Chic , which she recorded with the Stanley Clarke Band, and live won on a lot of Stanley's fans over much to his amusement.
i've listened to 18 hours of hiromi in the last week according to lastfm i think i can do 2 hours :D i was a math rock and prog rock guy before jazz, this is basically jazz for math rock fans
Thanks. The stuff you're commenting on isn't new. Hiromi is 39 now and still in a league of her own. She is Japanese, she was born in Hamamatsu, currently lives in the US You should check out the albums and DVDs by "Hiromi: The Trio Project" (Hiromi, Anthony Jackson and Simon Phillips). Here's a playlist with much more of Hiromi's magic. Chek out the solo concert that heads it: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Awbv7HzQsA4.html
BTW guys, if you're looking for Hiromi playing quiet, legato lines with lots of space, try this one: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Mf6UNCBy3MA.html&ab_channel=TrueContent
