Bryan Adams Straight From The Heart

Hiromi Brings a New Trio Project to the Dakota, June 20-21

About 8 years ago and barely out of Berklee, pianist Hiromi Uhera created a wave of tremors throughout the jazz world with technical wizardry that conjured Art Tatum and girlish pizzazz that charmed the coolest audience. She quickly recorded a series of albums with her Berklee-cohort trio (Tony Grey, Martin Valihora), then added wild guitarist David Fiuczynski to form her SonicBloom quartet. Her chops still dazzled but her increasing use of electronics engaged new fans while somewhat alienating others. Nevertheless, her compositions repeatedly yielded a wide palette, from lyrical fusings of Eastern and Western harmonies to free-wheeling mélanges of ever-shifting rhythms and tempos.  Tatum, Jarrett, Evans, Coleman—the entire history of jazz seemed tightly wound inside one small woman whose energy seemed endless. 

One of the most daring and creative voices of her generation, or perhaps of any working generation in jazz today, Hiromi has been rewriting the canon of modern jazz piano since her first recordings on Telarc and accumulating a list of awards on both sides of the Pacific, from Record and Artist of the Year honors from Swing Magazine A native of Shizuoka, Japan, Hiromi started playing piano at age 5, and enrolled in the Yamaha School of Music at age six. By age 12, she was performing in public, and at 14 performed with the Czech Philharmonic. When she was 17, she met Chick Corea in Tokyo: "He was doing something at Yamaha, and I was visiting Tokyo at the time to take some lessons. I talked to some teachers and said that I really wanted to see him. I sat down with him, and he said 'Play something.' So I played something, and then he said, 'Can you improvise?' I told him I could, and we did some two-piano improvisations. Then he asked me if I was free the next day. I told him I was, and he said, 'Well, I have a concert tomorrow. Why don't you come?' So I went there, and he called my name at the end of the concert, and we did some improvisations together." 

Hiromi was immersed in classical and jazz through her earliest teachers and throughout her training, which culminated in her enrollment at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. An early influence was Oscar Peterson, with whom she was ultimately connected through Yamaha and who has been a significant supporter. Ahmad Jamal has overseen her recent career and was co-producer of her first recording.  "I love Bach, I love Oscar Peterson, I love Franz Liszt, I love Ahmad Jamal," she says. "I also love people like Sly and the Family Stone, Dream Theatre and King Crimson. Also, I'm so much inspired by sports players like Carl Lewis and Michael Jordan. Basically, I'm inspired by anyone who has big, big energy. They really come straight to my heart.