Tag: Hiromi Iwasaki

Title: Hiromi – Voice (2011) [Japanese SHM-SACD Reissue 2012]
Genre: Jazz
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Pianist and composer Hiromi Uehara, whose passionate and incendiary keyboard work has been a shining light on the jazz landscape since her 2003 debut, believes that the voice that never speaks can sometimes be the most powerful of all. This recording, simply titled Voice, expresses a range of human emotions without the aid of a single lyric. Although a mesmerizing instrumentalist in her own right, Hiromi enlists the aid of two equally formidable players for this project – bassist Anthony Jackson (Paul Simon, The O’Jays, Steely Dan, Chick Corea) and drummer Simon Phillips (Toto, The Who, Judas Priest, David Gilmour, Jack Bruce). Jackson had previously played on a couple tracks from each of Hiromi’s first two albums – Another Mind in 2003 and Brain in 2004 – but they had never recorded an entire album together. “I’ve always been a huge fan of his bass playing”, Hiromi says. “I’ve always liked playing with him, and I was very happy that we finally had the chance to make an entire album together”.

Some jazz musicians aren’t documented nearly as much as they should be; one could write a book about all the talented improvisers who made it to 60 or 65 without ever recording an album, or even being featured as a sideman on someone else’s album. But Hiromi, thankfully, has been recording frequently ever since she emerged in the early 2000s, and she has been wise enough to record in a variety of settings. Hiromi has recorded unaccompanied, as well as in duos and trios; she has played in both electric groups and acoustic groups, and she has provided straight-ahead post-bop as well as fusion. Voice is best described as an electro-acoustic effort that is more post-bop than fusion but has its rock-influenced moments. Forming a trio with Anthony Jackson on electric bass and Simon Phillips on drums, Hiromi is heard on both acoustic piano and electric keyboards but pays more attention to the former. And while this 2010 recording may not be ideal from the perspective of a rigid jazz purist or a bop snob, Hiromi’s outlook is very much the outlook of a jazz improviser; the fact that she, Jackson, and Phillips bring some rock muscle to some of the material doesn’t negate that. Hiromi is undeniably imaginative on an intriguing performance of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 8 in C Minus, Opus 13, aka Sonata Pathétique, which goes back to 1798. Or course, there was no jazz in Beethoven’s time; if one agrees that jazz started when cornetist Buddy Bolden formed his first band in New Orleans in 1895, then jazz was a little over 100 years away from being created when Beethoven composed Sonata Pathétique. But Hiromi has no problem bringing Beethoven’s piece into the jazz world of the 21st century; she is no less an improviser on Sonata Pathétique than she is on free-spirited originals such as “Labyrinth,” “Flashback,” “Delusion,” and “Now or Never.” The Hiromi/Jackson/Phillips trio might display more rock muscle on some tracks than they do on others, but rock muscle or not, this 66-minute disc never loses its jazz mentality. Voice is yet another absorbing effort from this capricious acoustic pianist/electric keyboardist.

hraudio | allmusic | discogs

(more…)

Title: Hiromi – Move (2012) [Japanese SHM-SACD]
Genre: Jazz
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

For her latest Telarc release, the acclaimed pianist/composer has formed one of the greatest trios ever assembled. Hiromi is joined by contra-bass guitarist Anthony Jackson (Paul Simon, Steely Dan, Chick Corea) and drummer Simon Phillips (The Who, Jack Bruce, Toto). Move features nine original Hiromi compositions that expose the beauty and technique of each musician. Absolutely thrilling.

Move is Hiromi’s second “Trio Project” recording with electric bassist Anthony Jackson and drummer Simon Phillips, and is a worthy follow-up to 2011’s Voice. The pianist/composer defines the compositions on Move as mirroring an average day, starting with the title track, a choppy excursion that finds the trio connecting through a maze of twists and turns. “Brand New Day” is smoother than the previous track but doesn’t lose any of the energy. Hiromi switches between piano and an analog synthesizer on “Endeavor,” which, unfortunately, sounds like a novelty and cheapens the otherwise enjoyable composition. “Rainmaker” glides between fusion and post-bop. “Margarita!” is fun party funk. The final track, “11:49 PM,” brings the day, and this very satisfying session, to its conclusion.

hraudio | discogs

(more…)

Title: Hiromi – Spectrum (2019) [Japanese SHM-SACD]
Genre: Jazz
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Spectrum is the eleventh studio album by Japanese jazz pianist Hiromi Uehara. Jon Regen of Keyboard Magazine said “Ten years after the release of her solo piano debut, Place to Be in 2009, Hiromi goes it alone once again on Spectrum. The album celebrates the maturity and depth that have enriched her music in recent years, during her collaborations with artists like Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke and Michel Camilo”.

Since making her recorded debut in the 1990s, Hiromi Uehara has established herself as one of the most gifted jazz pianists of her generation. She issued Spectrum on the eve of her fortieth birthday as an overview of what she learned as a musician in her thirties. It’s the second time she’s done this; her debut solo offering, Place to Be, in 2009 that surveyed her twenties. Hiromi conjures up the same power and creative facility solo as she does with her Trio Project (bassist Anthony Jackson and drummer Simon Phillips). Spectrum addresses a guiding notion imposed by her piano teacher: that she quite literally envision prismatic color through music. Set-opener “Kaleidoscope” commences with a sequence of single notes played in an angular pattern that gives way to episodic multiples in staggered and syncopated sequences – a bit like Philip Glass’ piano cadences in Einstein on the Beach – and she adds and subtracts while layering fleet and forceful dynamics and spiraling arpeggios across, under, and atop her chordal syntax; they emerge, dissipate, and evolve into new ones throughout. You can hear everyone from Bach and Scarlatti to Art Tatum and Chick Corea in this workout. The physically demanding title track builds on a similar idea, although modal and contrapuntal acrobatics chase one another at high speeds with only expansive, chordal interludes offering respite, and then only briefly. But speed and dexterity aren’t the only things on offer. Her ballads, including “Whiteout,” offer an elegant lyricism that touches on Beethoven and Ravel as well as Scott Joplin and Errol Garner. It aches with emotion and the hint of a smile in its improvisational moments. “Yellow Wurlitzer Blues” reflects the harmonic invention of Thelonious Monk if he were a stride blues pianist. Hiromi’s sense of improvisational lightheartedness is stacked in punchy grooves in turnarounds with deft scalar feints for good measure. She offers a wonderfully inventive take on ragtime in “Mr. C.C.,” an homage to the original king of comedy (and composer) Charlie Chaplin, with a crescendo worthy of his “City Lights.” At 22 minutes, “Rhapsody in Various Shades of Blue” is not only the longest cut here, it’s the most mind-blowing. Of course it uses George Gershwin’s iconic composition as the recurrent theme and jumping-off point for integrating jazz (including John Coltrane’s “Blue Train”), vintage American song, contemporary improvisation, blues, and pop – Hiromi grafts Gershwin onto the Who’s “Behind Blue Eyes” inside this labyrinthian suite, then returns to the source – with canny improvised embellishments along the way, illustrating not only several shades of the color blue, but a panoramic vision of these composers. This 74-minute recital portrays the nearly spiritual command Hiromi has of her instrument and its various languages to extend her astonishing technical facility. More than this, however, it underscores the visionary, authoritative place her pianism commands in modern jazz.

hraudio | allmusic | discogs

(more…)

Title: Hiromi Iwasaki – Pandora’s Box (1978) [Japan 2020]
Genre: Disco
Format: MCH SACD ISO + DSF DSD64 + Hi-Res FLAC

Hiromi Iwasaki (岩崎 宏美) is a Japanese female singer who debuted in 1975. In 1981 she was awarded the Silver Prize at the Tokyo Music Festival. Pandora’s Box (パンドラの小箱, Pandora No Kobako) is her seventh studio album. It contains her most immediately recognizable hit song, “シンデレラ・ハネムーン” — “Cinderella Honeymoon” (1978) has been such a consistent feature of monomane talent Korokke’s routines, Hiromi Iwasaki has commented that when the intro played in concerts, fans would laugh, so she has ceremonially “gifted” that song to Korokke, whose performance has elongated both their careers.
Customer’s review: What an unexpected gem. Music taste is very personal, but I’d like to think that anyone with an appreciation for jpop or classic Japanese 80s and 90s music would love this. The tracks all have something slightly different to offer, in a chill way. The funk and soul definitely come through in the more upbeat fast tracks, but they’re accompanied by slow romantic ones too. The variety works in this albums favor for sure. The Surround mix is surprisingly good. They play with some drums and backing instruments/singers behind you, spin the lead vocals around in a couple songs, and gently envelop the room with harmonies when appropriate.

hraudio | discogs

(more…)