Simply astounding, I found the reviews on the Amazon site are quite pertinent:
Since the release of Another Mind, Hiromi Uehara’s 2003 debut on Telarc, a division of Concord Music Group, the Japanese composer/pianist has electrified audiences and critics on both hemispheres with a creative energy that defies the conventional parameters of jazz and pushes musicianship and composition to unprecedented levels of complexity and sophistication
BigH you can bet I'll be on the lookout as well. I've been rewinding the 'alive' video at least 10 times and I'm still doumbfounded, also trying to figure out the time, sometimes it seems a 13/8, sometimes switching to even time, not always the same apparently.
She also plays a devilish stride, possibly having bested the big master of piano solo, Art Tatum.
well, after the early demise of Mulgrew Miller and the illness of the great Mccoy, she's probably the best right now, a living phenomenon.
I'm just back from a live concert with the Hiromi trio, they played pieces from the Alive CD.
Tonight I figured out a little bit more about the Alive tune, it's rythmically pretty complex, they start with something like 11/4, switch to 5/4, then interludes with even time, then alternate between 5/4 and 9/4, I'm not sure yet about the 11/4 but I'm going to check at least a hundred more times.
She has an impressive Mastering of the keyboard, often playing rytmically with voicings with all manners of upbeat counterpoints, the interplay with her sidemen is astonishing, plus played a ridiculous (in the slang Language of opposites) blues.
This was a welcome break, usually my nights are made up of spring stiffnesses, depths of influence, shear waves velocities and so on...
I'm jealous McCoy! Glad you enjoyed it. I have to wait until I get to my mum's house in Aug to pick up my copy of Alive. She's been playing a lot in Europe this past month after doing the Canada Jazz festival circuit.
BigH, no need to be jealous, the Youtube clips available are pretty close to the live concerts, at least, from the distance I saw the show, it was the same thing, way the trio played was identical, the sound technicians were not very good and the acoustic piano was amplified almost terribly, the Tunes played were all from the album, so what I'm saying, seeing the live concert was good but seeing the youtube clips is next to it and maybe listening to the album is the best, this is my probably heretical opinion.
