Brain [HYBRID SACD - DSD] [LIVE]

Hiromi Uehara

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 25, 2004)
• Original Release Date: May 25, 2004
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Hybrid SACD - DSD, Live
• Label: Telarc
• ASIN: B00022FWOK
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #18,097 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Track Listings

1. Kung-Fu World Champion

2. If...

3. Wind Song

4. Brain

5. Desert on the Moon

6. Green Tea Farm [Solo]

7. Keytalk

8. Legend of the Purple Valley

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Among those artists currently reinventing the jazz piano trio--such as E.S.T. and The Bad Plus--Hiromi is rapidly moving to the forefront. A protégé of Ahmad Jamal who played in duet with Chick Corea when she was 17, Hiromi's influences are very broad--Beethoven and Debussy somehow align with P-Funk. Part of her success lies in her skill with electronics, evident in the pulsing rhythmic overlays of "Kung-Fu World Champion" or the strange, calliope-like sound that announces the theme of "Brain." But it's her consummate piano playing that ties all of the threads together, whether it's the impressionist-flavored solo of "Green Tea Farm" or the bustling runs and charging interplay that she leads on "Desert of the Moon" with bassist Anthony Jackson and drummer Martin Valihora. Hiromi practices an art of surprise, touching on video-game tempos and Bill Evans harmonies as she arranges tradition and novelty in fresh configurations. --Stuart Broomer

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If there was ever any doubt about the genius of Hiromi . . ., May 29, 2004

By	Jan P. Dennis "Longboard jazzer" (Monument, CO USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Brain (Audio CD)

. . . (and I, for one, never thought there was), Brain settles the issue.

As an artist, Hiromi has grown by leaps and bounds since her remarkable debut, Another Mind. For one thing, this disc has a much less obviously virtuoso feel; it's as if she's realized she has nothing to prove, and just sets about displaying her pianistic and compositional genius in settings that naturally reveal her prodigal talent.

Moreover, there's a kind of cool disdain for jazz orthodoxy--not that she can't play "in the Tradition" when she wants to; she just usually doesn't want to.

Along with groups like The Bad Plus, EST, and The Frank Kimbrough Trio, she stretches the understand of piano jazz into new and unlikely vicinities, injecting some much-needed life into this venerable form: funk ("Kung Fu World Champion," with its plugged-in bass stylings, stunning drumming, and very hip percussive piano stylings), gorgeous neo-pop jazz ("If . . . ," which just dances and frolics with abandon), Oriental-feel jazz ("Wind Song," perhaps my favorite number with its shifting melody and stunning solo), electronica ("Brain," the brilliant and darkly perverse title cut, with its rhythmic insistence and computeresque bass stylings), neo-Brazilian ("Dancing on the Moon," perhaps the most "straight-ahead" jazz number, where she sounds like she's channeling early Keith Jarrett), sheerly gorgeous jazz ("Green Tea Room," with its faux-Oriental, ravishingly romantic vibe), Steely Danish, out-atmospheric funkified jazz-pop ("Keytalk," surely the most outrageously, impressively stylized number in the bunch, featuring the extroverted, expressivistic bass renderings of the entirely remarkable Tony Grey), and the closest thing to traditional jazz trio understandings, "Legend of the Purple Valley," which, nevertheless, sounds scarcely like anything you'd hear from a typical jazz trio outing.

Listen.

Hiromi's the real deal.

Blessed with monster technique, an uncanny eclecticism that seldom fails to nail the exact right sensibility for her remarkable and consistently astounding compositions, and apparent carte-blanch from her record company, she has produced one of the, if not THE, most remarkable jazz-trio outings ever.

Simply flabbergasting.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not just cerebral music, June 13, 2004

By	Samuel Chell (Kenosha,, WI United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Brain (Audio CD)

She's got prodigious piano technique, brains and beauty (as six full-page photos included with the CD make abundantly clear), incredible energy, and lots of "mo" (is there any young instrumentalist who is bigger at the present moment?). All of which may raise some suspicions among closer followers of the jazz scene, past and present.

Admittedly, I was impressed but not captivated after a first listen. The tracks with synthesizer, the all-original program of "descriptive," "programmatic" titles, the packaging--it smacked of commercialism and new-age aesthetics. But I recall having a similar reaction to Ahmad Jamal the first time I heard him. He didn't employ harmonies like Art Tatum, swing like Oscar, fill up the space with complex melodic lines like Bud Powell. But over time it became clear that Ahmad was the master colorist of them all, a painter of musical tone poems that could be infinitely suggestive if not mesmerizing. Hiromi, who was "discovered" and first produced by Ahmad, has the same affinities.

Listen to "Desert on the Moon." It 's a bubbling piece, more suggestive of a mountain stream in its progress through a variety of moods, tempos, textures, and dynamic contrasts. Every moment is alive and purposeful, as Hiromi takes us on a journey from rippling, impressionist passages to sharply-defined pointillism (she has some musical karate chops!) to unabashed romantic lyricism (an unapologetic allusion to "My One and Only Love"), finally bringing the force of the whole to an explosive, climactic conclusion, then just as seamlessly providing a tranquil, restorative coda.

Her piano technique extends beyond mere virtuosity. She gets a bright, pure and round sound from the instrument that is absolutely consistent in all registers and at soft as well as loud volumes. Moreover, this recording is probably the best that I've ever heard a piano sound on CD. If you have any sort of half-way decent stereo system, Hiromi and her Yamaha Concert Grand will be bigger than life in your living room. Better make room because from the evidence on this disk, she'll be around for a long time to come.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars TASTEFULLY DONE, April 22, 2007

By	Baddstuff "music junkie" (astoria, ny United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Brain (Audio CD)

I have to wonder what the guy who wrote "But on musical taste I would file this between Weird Al Yancovich and Alvin and the Chimpunks" was listening to. Couldn't have been this CD. Granted, he is entitled to his opinion and I am no authority on jazz piano but I think he was being just a tad harsh. If she was THAT bad would a world renowned and respected musician such as Chick Corea invite her onstage to do some piano improvisations? Hmmm....maybe Chick's ears aren't what they used to be, or was someone holding a gun to his head?

I hear some really beautiful playing by Hiromi on this disc and the bassist and drummer lend excellent support. Maybe she pisses some people off because she mixes in some electronic keyboards and we all know how that ruffles some jazz purist's feathers. Well, then don't listen to Hiromi, God knows there's enough traditonal jazz out there for you. I think there's plenty of fine acoustic piano on this disc. Listen to it and make your own call. I've heard a helluva lot worse than this!

Me, I'm a fusion fanatic who saw Chick Corea's Return to Forever band 5 times, the Lenny White, Stanley Clarke and Al DiMeola version. I love progressive rock, metal, funk, and basically anything that sounds good to my ears. This sounds good to my ears. I also just caught Hiromi at the Blue Note Jazz Club on April 20 and loved it. Al Yancovich and Alvin and the Chimpunks were nowhere in sight! And last I heard they weren't getting the rave reviews Hiromi is getting. Go figure.

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