[watercourse]

I've seen Hiromi with Stanley Clarke, and it was an amazing show. This is coming from someone that usually cannot stand fusion, and my wife likes it even less than me. But we both love her. Hiromi had both chops and taste that night, and the band was clearly having fun playing together, and it was infectious. It actually gave me newfound respect for jazz-rock fusion.
After hearing them, I got some of Hiromi's music, as a leader of Sonicbloom, with Stanley Clarke, solo, and with Chick.
First, I don't think their recorded material matches the high level of their music live (well, duh). During the second song of the first set, Hiromi stole the show, playing with much sensitivity and quiet emotion, that was so moving that no one in the audience wanted to disturb the mood once the song ended - it was only Stanley's clapping that brought us out of the reverie. When we in the audience heard her much more extrovert playing, we were floored. Her sense of touch as well as strength, energy, and breadth of ideas were amazing. Not sure if a youtube video can capture her touch, for instance, and may actually make a caricature of her style - both musical and non-musical.
Second, Hiromi IS young and still developing as an artist - this you can hear from her duets with Chick. BUT she has real talent now, which I think is demonstrated by the esteem paid her by the older guard. However, the thing that I find unique about her is that she is not afraid to express herself in many different styles of jazz. And thank gourd that there are still young jazz musicians, because I for one am getting exhausted trying to see all the greats before they are no longer.
Third, one doesn't have to play only certain types of jazz to be legitimate anymore. If this were the case, then jazz in the 40s, 50s, and 60s never happened. And Herbie Hancock wouldn't be the real deal by that measure. Listening to her solo albums "Place to Be", I would be hard pressed describing some of it as jazz to anyone, however, on other songs she is clearly a jazz talent to be reckoned with.
Lastly, and I hate to say this, but you can definitely hear the Berklee training in Hiromi's work, just as you can hear it in Esperanza Spalding's stuff once she began teaching there. On the one hand, I'm thankful that Berklee exists to educate new generations of musicians about jazz. As someone who used to play jazz and would not like it to fade into obscurity and irrelevance though, I know that jazz has to come from the soul and express the truth as the musician sees it, otherwise it is NOT legitimate IMHO. A very isolating, ivory tower university is hardly the place to produce an Armstrong, Ellington, Monk, or Mingus though. But I'm hoping to be proven wrong.

[jimdgoulding]

Makiko Hirabayashi Trio
"Hide and Seek"

Makiko Hirabayashi - piano
Klavs Hovman - bass
Marilyn Mazur - drums, percussion

The album cover didn't make it, sorry.  Here is a young miss of Japanese decent who plays with more of a touch of blue than the lass under discussion.  I think she's based in Europe.  Her music certainly sounds like it to me.  Enjoy.

http://www.jazzrecords.com/enja/9192.htm

Oh, seems you can't hear samples at the link.  Try Grooveshark.  BUT, you can see Enja's catalog!  Remember Prince Lasha? 

[jimdgoulding]

Pianist Satimi Yarimizo, she's the leader, and her group Bop Tribal. 




Wish I knew how to link her samples , but you can listen on Amazon.

[lcrim]

neobop:
Enough is enough.
I don't want you posting here any further.
Larry

[TheChairGuy]

wowee...how does one have any beef with that playing?

Unless I heard her on the lone jazz station here in San Fran - I'm not familiar with her work - but, I just scrolled thru about 5 YouTube video's of her and she is simply amazing.

One's appreciation for her modern styling may not match - but. how can you say anything but that she's a musical savant.  Truly, superb stuff - if I see her playing in my area and I'm free I'd make a bee-line to see her.

Shit-e...I just missed her as it turns out  Yoshi's is the premier Jazz Club around here...good Japanese food, too. Good food and music - are you kidding - heaven has a name and it's Yoshi's 

Jun 2, 2011
Yoshi's-San Francisco (The trio project)
San Francisco,CA
Jun 3, 2011
Yoshi's-San Francisco (The trio project)
San Francisco,CA
Jun 4, 2011
Yoshi's-San Francisco (The trio project)
San Francisco,CA
Jun 5, 2011
Yoshi's-San Francisco (The trio project)
San Francisco,CA

[jimdgoulding]

Chair Guy, you like jazz?  Or, is Hiromi an exception?  Check out the two other nippon ladies I posted, if you will, and tell me and any other interested parties what you think.  Hiromi IS amazing, no question about that.

[lonewolfny42]

Pianist Satimi Yarimizo, she's the leader, and her group Bop Tribal. 




Wish I knew how to link her samples , but you can listen on Amazon.

Amazon samples...

[jimdgoulding]

Thanks, Chris.  This is the one with a trio and not so straight up jazz.  In point of fact, she's unique:  http://grooveshark.com/#/album/Hide+And+Seek/6378016

[Phil]

ooheadsoo,

Thanks for the recommendation.  Diggin' this CD.      She has matured since I saw her live. 

I wasn't sure if I would like the CD during the first track, but I realized subsequently that the problem for me is the drummer (just personal taste).  I'm having to listen around him to enjoy the music.  To my ears/taste, he doesn't fit. 

From a previous trio, it is clear she likes the bass and drums to be propulsive.  But the tone seems wrong here. 

Good stuff overall though.  She is irrepressibly creative....

Phil

[TheChairGuy]

Chair Guy, you like jazz?  Or, is Hiromi an exception?  Check out the two other nippon ladies I posted, if you will, and tell me and any other interested parties what you think.  Hiromi IS amazing, no question about that.

No - I like jazz a lot...I just wasn't familiar with Hiromi or the two other gals you pointed out but I will try to check them out, too.

Ciao, John

Addendum: I was smitten with jazz 25 years ago at age 23 when my buddy, a Julliard trained pianest, took me to see Jan Garbarek.  Since then I've heard a lot of Dizzy, Brubeck, Miles, Stanley Clark, among others live...and a lot more than that on my rig at home.

[watercourse]

Hey Chair Guy, I missed her latest trio shows too. Get a hold of me if you ever get to Yoshi's SF or Oakland.
Wilson

[jimdgoulding]

What I meant in sayiing "she is amazing" is that she is an amazing technician.  Wynton Marsalis is, too.  Wynton has an album out called The 'Feeling' of Jazz which is ironic to me cause the only time he's really digging in that I've heard is with Blakey on Live at Keystone 3 (he does have a live album under his name that I think is on Blue Note that I've been meaning to hear).  I suggest that a better title for his album to me would have been The 'Ambassador' of Jazz or something.  I'm with Neo on Hiromi.  She is amazing, but she doesn't play jazz.  Jazz is introspective music, longing and searching, an art form based on the African Americans' experience in America.

[watercourse]

Jim,
I'm with you on Wynton (we call him "The Clenched Anus" round here). As for Hiromi, I sometimes agree (depends on the song, the album, and probably her mood). She has so much in her bag that I wouldn't write her off as a mere technician - I don't much appreciate those types - but I wonder if this would be true if I didn't see her live.
W

[jimdgoulding]

I'm sure she is very infectuous live.  She sure isn't lacking for energy.  Were I planning on buying new speakers, I would have an intense interest in your speakers of choice.

[ooheadsoo]

wowee...how does one have any beef with that playing?

Unless I heard her on the lone jazz station here in San Fran - I'm not familiar with her work - but, I just scrolled thru about 5 YouTube video's of her and she is simply amazing.

One's appreciation for her modern styling may not match - but. how can you say anything but that she's a musical savant.  Truly, superb stuff - if I see her playing in my area and I'm free I'd make a bee-line to see her.

Shit-e...I just missed her as it turns out  Yoshi's is the premier Jazz Club around here...good Japanese food, too. Good food and music - are you kidding - heaven has a name and it's Yoshi's 

Jun 2, 2011
Yoshi's-San Francisco (The trio project)
San Francisco,CA
Jun 3, 2011
Yoshi's-San Francisco (The trio project)
San Francisco,CA
Jun 4, 2011
Yoshi's-San Francisco (The trio project)
San Francisco,CA
Jun 5, 2011
Yoshi's-San Francisco (The trio project)
San Francisco,CA

I drove from LA to SF to see Hiromi at Yoshi's in Oakland once.  Awesome show, it was for her Time Control album and it was a real showcase.  W, I agree, it's when you see her live that you can tell that she's not just putting on a show, but is genuine.

If I have a major criticism of Hiromi, I would agree with the sentiment that her arrangements can be much too busy.  There are also a couple albums I just don't really like and don't listen to.

Jazz can be introspective, longing, and searching, and the African American heritage cannot be forgotten or ignored, but jazz can no longer be limited to one trope.  Jazz has grown and expanded over the decades and people are contributing to the art from all over the world.  The keys to the heart of jazz are expression and improvisation.  If the music has those two elements, then I say let it be called jazz if people want to and leave the rest up to interpretation. 

This is how a group like Bela Fleck and the Flecktones can get jammed into the jazz category ... did I just open up another can of worms?

At the end of the day, Duke said there are only two kinds of music - the good kind, and the other kind.

Jim, digging Hirabayashi.  Thinking hard about buying Bop Tribal.

[jimdgoulding]

My man, your paragraph three is well taken.  I've said elsewhere that I love what Europeans were inventing in the 70's.  Get on with your bad self!  I don't know anything that beats enjoying life.

[hifitommy]

she is an emerging and developing/evolving artist, getting better with time.  i havent gotten voice as yet but have some others including her work with s. clarke.  keiko's music is sleep inducing and i cannot warrant spending any money there.  perhaps smooth jazz IS a good description.

i heard and had a lot of criticism for diana krall in her early days but she has matured into a very good jazzer.  starting with the dvd 'live from paris' and followed up by 'girl in the other room', i say she will be around for a long time and so will hiromi.

we really dont have to have a stiff upper (and stuffed shirt) lip like the critic stanley crouch and really, wynton is pretty good if variable.  his pompous authoritarianism is wearing and could stand to be toned down a bit.

all in all, i am pro-hiromi and look forward to her further development.

maybe the worst thing i can muster up to say about hiromi is that the music is rather 'contemporary jazz' but then so was weather report and some others.  at least she doesnt allow the pseudo hip-hop beat that pops up in most of it.