A hugely talented jazz pianist and a firecracker performer on stage, Hiromi Uehara attended Boston’s Berklee College Of Music and made her debut for the Telarc label in 2003.
Since then she’s made a name for herself both on the festival circuit and with her nine albums to date, including this year’s Alive. Back in 2012 she toured to promote her intense and eclectic release Move, and here we find her at the Tokyo International Forum during that tour. Her trio is completed by two highly seasoned musicians, über-drummer Simon Phillips (Mike Oldfield, Toto) and six-string bass veteran Anthony Jackson (Chick Corea, Al Di Meola). Together they rocket through that jazz fusion album in its entirety, from the warp-speed-Bernstein title track, to the diverse three-part suite (Reality, Fantasy and In Between) and stunningly tricky closer 11.49. There’s no pyro lighting effects or even bonus features to distract you, but Hiromi’s music is so complex that it’s completely absorbing, and what an enlightening thrill it is to just watch these three connect, read each other’s cues and focus with laser-beam precision on creating this serious, heady fusion music. A good entry point into Hiromi’s dazzling musical world.
