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Jazz

Hiromi: Move

Move
  • Music
  • by Hiromi | Nov 14, 2013
Hiromi: Move
  • Music
  • Sonics
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Since emigrating from Japan in 1999, pianist Hiromi Uehara has explored everything from acoustic piano trio to high-powered fusion to intimate solo and duet projects, each highlighting her abundant chops and good taste. Lately she’s been working with contrabass guitarist Anthony Jackson and veteran British fusion drummer Simon Phillips. Move, their third project together, again displays the remarkably tight execution and rock muscle that the electro-acoustic trio established on their impressive debut, 2011’s Voice (reviewed Issue 215). The highly-charged title track navigates a labyrinth of stop-time phrases, challenging unisons, and odd time signatures, while “Brand New Day” is lofts cascading lines in a lower dynamic. Shifting gears radically, Hiromi juggles funky wah-wah synth with piano in a contrapuntal dance as Phillips lays down a solid groove on “Endeavor,” a tune which has her emulating her mentor Ahmad Jamal. Elsewhere, she deftly shifts from classical flourishes to slyly syncopated jazz on the stirring “Rainmaker” before blowing through the exhilarating “Suite Escapism: Reality” with runaway train momentum, then settling into a gently soulful, gospel-tinged groove on “Suite Escapism: Fantasy.” The third part of that suite is the frenetic “In Between,” sounding like a cross between Chick Corea and Franz Liszt. 

By Bill Milkowski

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