Deep Into the Night (Live) and Spectrum (In-Studio Performance)

Hiromi’s Sonicbloom: Hiromi Uehara (piano, synthesizer), David Fiuczynski (electric guitar), Tony Grey (electric bass) and Martin Valihora (drums) playing in Japan (2007). From the album Time Control (2007).

In 2010, Hiromi Uehara formed The Trio Project with electric bassist Anthony Jackson and drummer Simon Phillips. In 2011 they released Voice, in which we can hear post-bop with progressive rock rhythms provided by Phillips and Jackson’s jazz fusion approach, and in which Hiromi uses more piano than electric keyboards. In this album the uninterrupted intensity increases all the time and a variety of feelings is reflected without saying a single word, only with the sound of the instruments. It’s noteworthy the jazz version “Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No.8 - Pathetique”, in which Hiromi improvises keeping the spirit of the author, but giving it a blues flavor that makes it a true delight.

Afterwards came the Hiromi Solo Live at Blue Note New York DVD recorded in 2010, which includes interviews and pictures of Hiromi’s preferred cities worldwide, and in 2012 Hiromi: Live in Marciac DVD.While on tour she wrote Move (2012), which follows the same pattern as the previous album and led to the Move: Live in Tokyo DVD (2014), in addition to taking part in the 2013 and 2014 Newport Jazz Festival. The Trio Project became one of the best contemporary jazz groups with a perfect execution of the pianist’s challenging and unpredictable compositions, reflected again in Alive (2014), bright and vanguardist. Jackson’s stunning bass lines and Phillips’ powerful percussion drive Hiromi’s sweeping improvisations. Her expressive themes remind us of the many moods a person can have and the mysteries of life. Then they went on a world tour.

In 2016 the trio launched Spark, a provocative conceptual album whose unifying component is the spark of inspiration that leads to risk-taking, creation and spiritual connection, and which topped the Billboard‘s magazine Jazz Albums Chart. In her next album, Live in Montreal (2017), Hiromi completely changes direction and plays a duet with harp virtuoso Edmar Castañeda, who has participated with saxophonist Paquito D’Rivera, trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, guitarist John Scofield and double bassist John Patitucci among others, in a titan fight whose result is fascinating. In 2019 she introduced her latest work Spectrum, in which she plays alone.

Hiromi Uehara (piano). From the album Spectrum (2019).