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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.”

Among her mentors at Berklee was the veteran jazz bassist/arranger Richard Evans, who teaches arranging and orchestration. It was Evans who took Hiromi’s demo tape to his friend and collaborator: the legendary pianist/bandleader Ahmad Jamal. “[Professor Evans] really liked how I played,” Hiromi fondly recalled. “And Ahmad loved the demo – I couldn’t believe it! He’s been very encouraging and supportive. He’s an amazing human being.”

Evans co-produced her debut album, Another Mind, with Jamal, who has also taken a personal interest in Hiromi’s artistic development. “She is nothing short of amazing,” says Jamal. “Her music, together with her overwhelming charm and spirit, causes her to soar to unimaginable musical heights.” Another Mind was a critical success in North America and in her native Japan, where the album shipped gold (100,000 units) and received the Recording Industry Association of Japan’s (RIAJ) Jazz Album of the Year Award. Hiromi’s astonishing debut was but a forecast of the shape of jazz to come.

Her second release, Brain, won the Horizon Award at the 2004 Surround Music Awards, Swing Journal’s New Star Award, Jazz Life’s Gold Album, HMV Japan’s Best Japanese Jazz Album and the Japan Music Pen Club’s Japanese Artist Award (the JMPC is a classical/jazz journalists club). Brain was also named Album of the Year in Swing Journal’s 2005 Readers Poll. In 2006, Hiromi won Best Jazz Act at the Boston Music Awards and the Guinness Jazz Festival’s Rising Star Award. She also claimed Jazzman of the Year, Pianist of the Year and Album of the Year in Swing Journal’s Readers Poll for her 2006 release, Spiral. Hiromi’s winning streak continued with the release of Time Control in 2007 and Beyond Standard in 2008. Both releases featured Sonicbloom: her hand-picked group that included guitarist Dave “Fuze” Fiuczynski, bassist Tony Grey and drummer Martin Valihora.

Hiromi achieved a number of milestones in 2009. She recorded with pianist Chick Corea – who she met in Japan when she was seventeen on Duet, a two-disc live recording of their transcendent, transgenerational and transcultural duo concert in Tokyo. She also appeared on bassist Stanley Clarke’s Heads Up International release, Jazz in the Garden, which also featured former Chick Corea bandmate, drummer Lenny White.

In June of that same year, Hiromi simultaneously released two concert DVDs, both recorded in Tokyo: Hiromi Live in Concert (recorded in December 2005) and Hiromi’s Sonicbloom Live in Concert (recorded in December 2007). The former features the rhythm section of Grey and Valihora, while the latter includes Fiuczynski’s incendiary fretwork.

In 2010, Hiromi released Place to Be, an impressive and intimate solo piano session; her evocative aural travelogue of the many places and spaces she visited around the world. “I wanted to record the sound of my twenties for archival purposes,” she says. “I felt like the people whom I met on the road during my twenties really helped me develop and mature as a musician and as a person. So in addition to making a record that represented all of these places that have inspired my music, I also wanted it to be a thank-you to those people.”

She followed up Place to Be with a DVD, Hiromi Solo Live at Blue Note New York. Recorded on August 20 and 21, 2010, at the Blue Note in New York City, the video includes 11 originals and a special bonus feature with interview clips and performance footage from some of Hiromi’s favorite cities around the world.

On her 2011 album, Voice, Hiromi’s goal was to capture people’s “inner voices” to create what she called a “three-dimensional sound.” On that album, she assembled a trio that included herself and two veteran players: contrabass guitarist Anthony Jackson and drummer Simon Phillips. While Hiromi had played with Jackson prior to recording Voice, she had never recorded an entire album with either him or Phillips, the latter who had been recommended to her by legendary bassist Stanley Clarke, a mutual acquaintance.

Also in 2011, The Stanley Clarke Band album, featuring Hiromi, won the GRAMMY® Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album. While on the road, Hiromi started writing music for her follow-up, Move, released in 2013. That same year, she had several impressive placements in DownBeat magazine’s 61st Annual International Critics Poll, in the Jazz Artist, Piano, Keyboard and Rising Star: Piano categories. In 2013, she performed at George Wein’s Newport Jazz Festival and also performed there for the festival’s sixtieth anniversary in 2014.

Alive, released in 2014, heralded the return of The Trio Project, featuring Phillips’ powerful, yet poetic percussion and Jackson’s flowing, glow-in-the-dark basslines beautifully buoying and supporting Hiromi’s ingenious and impassioned improvisations. Her evocative and expansive compositions evoke the myriad moods and mysteries of life and reveal the soulful, syncopated simpatico of her thrilling threesome. Her tenth CD, Spark, also featured the trio, this time igniting her most narratively sweeping and emotionally overflowing set of music to date. No wonder DownBeat magazine proclaimed the terrific triad as “one of the most exciting groups working in any genre today.”

In 2017, Live in Montreal found her veering off in yet another new direction, exploring a wholly unique sonic palette in collaboration with the Colombian harp virtuoso Edmar Castaneda (Paquito D’Rivera, Wynton Marsalis).

Spectrum is the latest chapter in Hiromi’s ever-evolving musical life. “I’m hungry to learn,” she told DownBeat magazine, “so I’ll always keep my big ears open fully, ready to learn every single minute that I play.”

Awards

Hiromi is the recipient of three awards from 2006 Swing Journal Japan Jazz Readers Poll. She won for Jazzman of the Year and Piano of the Year and her release, Spiral, won for Album of the Year!

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Hiromi's Sonicwonder At SFJAZZ

by Chuck Lenatti
April 22, 2024

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. ...

Radio & Podcasts

Hiromi, Mike Reed, Weave4, Astghik Martirosyan, Todd Clouser & More

by Ludovico Granvassu
November 18, 2023

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 ...

Radio & Podcasts

Pianist's Aziza Mustafa Zadeh, Hiromi, Erik Escobar, Lydian Nadsharawam and Cameron Graves.

by Len Davis
September 8, 2023

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 ...

In Pictures

2023 Freihofer's Saratoga Jazz Festival

by Richard Conde
July 12, 2023

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 ...

Radio & Podcasts

Billy Cobham from Power Play, Bunny Brunel and Dwiki Dharwarman

by Len Davis
April 23, 2023

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 ...

Live Review

Jazz In Marciac 2022

by Martin McFie
September 17, 2022

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 ...

Radio & Podcasts

Dimas Pradipta, Pablo Held, Clerq, Hiromi

by Len Davis
April 22, 2022

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 ...

Interview

Jazz Face: Hiromi, Virtuosity in Service to Art

Source: JazzINK by Andrea Canter
March 30, 2012

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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Performance / Tour

Japanese Jazz Pianist Hiromi Electrifies at the Annenberg Center

Source: AAJ Staff
November 4, 2011

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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Performance / Tour

Jazz This Week: Stanley Clarke and Hiromi, Sister Swing, "O That Jazz," Hard Bop Heritage, and More

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
February 3, 2011

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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Interview

Hiromi is the Hendrix of the Piano.

Source: The Domino Theory by Jeff Winbush
January 16, 2011

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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290

Recording

Hiromi Kanda Transforms the Great American Songbook

Source: Michael Ricci
March 15, 2010

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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Radio

The Jazz Session #142: Hiromi

Source: Michael Ricci
February 11, 2010

241

Interview

Jazz Pianist Hiromi Travels Light on Her New Solo Album

Source: All About Jazz @ Spinner
January 22, 2010

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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224

Recording

Hiromi Chronicles Her World Travels on Her First Solo Piano Recording

Source: Michael Ricci
January 12, 2010

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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208

Performance / Tour

Hiromi's Sonicbloom | 11.14 | Tel Aviv

Source: JamBase
November 22, 2009

Words by: Kevin Schwartzbach

Hiromi's Sonicbloom :: 11.14.09 :: Hangar 11 :: Tel Aviv, Israel

Hiromi Uehara by Muga Miyahara As if there aren't enough things being exported out of Japan these days. It's no surprise, of course, given that the Japanese have a habit of taking things invented by Americans and making them smaller, better, and more efficient. First it was cars, then electronics, and now jazz. Hiromi Uehara certainly is small (standing at no more than five ...
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174

Performance / Tour

Tradition Leaping to the Sky

Source: Michael Ricci
July 6, 2009

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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