Customer Reviews

Beyond Standard

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Just when you thought she couldn't get any better, she releases BEYOND STANDARD. It is similar in some ways to her previous CD, but this one is a little more "jazz" and a little less "fusion." I hate to use those terms, but it may be helpful. Anyway, hear for yourself. She is a talent who will be around for a long, long, time. I just wish she would tour more in the USA. We would love it. But as for the CD, do not hesitate to get it.

Hiromi never ceases to surprise. Just an amazing album sparkling with originality and creativity. She is one of the very few musicians today who can play genuine fusion without sounding anachronistic. This album is as brilliant as its predecessor, except this time she is playing the standards, rather than her own compositions. However, her renditions are characteristically witty, fresh and quirky. Just listen to the old Japanese pop tune "Sukiyaki". If you've never heard the original, you'd never guess it's not a fusion tune. And the chords on "My Favourite Things" take that classic Coltrane vehicle into new directions. Hiromi never runs out of ways to make each song her own. She leaves plenty of room for herself and the band to improvise and have fun. The interplay between the band is very tight, I love the way everyone plays a passage or run in perfect unison. Couldn't recommend is more highly to anyone who loves Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock and contemporary jazz.

Admittedly best experienced live, the head-shaking pianisms, Japanese eclecticism and absorption of Western pop culture, indefatigable energy, and jaw-dropping "overachieving" ways of Hiromi come through on an audio disc almost as unmistakably as they do on video. Personally, I'd prefer to hear less of the synths, Fender Rhodes, and hot-rock funk-driven rhythms, but if those components are bringing a new generation back to music (real music, not "smooth," or "contemporary" jazz), I'm not about to complain. In fact, I bring every potentially impressionable young person along with me to her concerts and club dates (which she surprisingly agreed to do at Chicago's Jazz Showcase this past spring).

She comes to the U.S. and Berklee School of Music 50 years after Toshiko, who was a Bud Powell disciple and later composer-leader for arguably the outstanding big band of the 1970s (she's limiting the big band work but is still playing up a storm on piano). Hiromi may have more technique than Toshiko--she's a prodigious wunderkind--though she has yet to reflect the music of the "tradition" (Pops through Prez through Bird through Bud through Bill Evans). Her athletic piano skills reveal a player of frightening technique, speed, agility, multiple piano "syles," and precision--but close, attentive listening on the part of someone familiar with the legacy--from Earl Hines through Evans--soon reveals melodic lines that are patterned, repetitious, flamboyant, accessible and plenty "showy."

All the same, she's an irresistible performer, arguably the hottest ticket on the jazz festival circuit--at least when the field is limited to purely instrumental musicians. At this point, she wants to "play it all," and I wouldn't be surprised if one of her chief supporters and mentors, Ahmad Jamal, isn't occasionally perturbed by the unrelenting exhibition of her seemingly limitless talent. Give her a few years and it's very possible she, like so many other players who enjoyed great success in the "fusion '70s," will reconsider all the "gear," take some time off for reflection, and return as a more focused, thoughtful artist. In the meantime, you can only marvel at the present millennium's most visible, most electrifying, and possibly most influential instrumental talent. Young or old, female or male, if you're incapable of being seduced by the unlikely combination of charm and strength exuded by this remarkable performer, it may be time to look into some of those Viagra-type products.

Perhaps needless to say, Hiromi is, like the title of her album, the very embodiment of Duke's favorite description of his favorite music and its makers: "Beyond category."

Kind of a cross between Errol Garner and The Mahavishnu Orchestra! Intense, compelling and riveting performance of otherwise very recognizable tunes. In my opinion, Hiromi doesn't in any way let her unbridled virtuosity obstruct her passion and sensitivity. She's on my list of great living pianists!

Beyond Standard is a jazzy album full of interesting songs. I think that the best of Hiromi and his band is are live actings (this is a studio record), but this one is highly recommendable.

Hiromi Uehara is an amazing pianist. This album has a great reworking of many standards(hence the album name). It is good from beginning to end. The music is complex but approachable. Her solos are catchy while being virtuosic. Overall a wonderful album and a modern reworking a fusion that can be seen as prophetic.

Hiromi will make you laugh, cry, smile, and wonder how they make such beautiful music. I cannot articulate through words the ways this music makes me feel.

Hiromi's Sonicbloom performed last May 3rd, during Rota dos Bons Ventos Festival at Faial isl., Azores. Along with some musics from her previous CDs, like Time Control, a few tracks from Beyond Standard were played, among them Caravan, etc. Then I just had to wait for June 10th to order my copy of this really fantastic cd. On stage Hiromi sometimes looks like a Kung-Fu fighter in bursts of energy that often end up on a delicate note. Her band doesn't deceive the genious piano player, nor the audience. Standards are standards, but they have been played, and will be, in many different ways and this is a very special one. Really suggested to music lovers and if Hiromi is in town, don't miss the show.

This is great music, just seems like Hiromi was SO dominating... like she picked musicians that couldn't quite keep up with her (although all still great), in my opinion. Who knows, maybe that was the plan. However, still all GREAT music, especially Caravan, Led Boots, and XYG. WELL WORTH the little money.