The Wonderful Hiromi

A few weeks ago, just as things were starting to get interesting, we saw what might be our last show for a while. Out at the Triple Door, we got the pleasure of seeing Hiromi Uehara perform in a solo concert.

Hiromi, often referred to by her first name only, is a jazz pianist and composer from Japan. Her skill as a jazz musician is astounding, and her performances are breath-taking! I had recently stumbled on her as connected to Chick Corea who is another jazz pianist and composer that I follow, and I was floored. Chick, for me, has always has a different take on jazz piano than other performers I've heard. His musical "voice" stands apart from some of the others for me, and I've been drawn to it from the introduction I had some decades ago. When I first heard Hiromi, I was struck by the thought that she "spoke" in a similar voice and I was also immediately drawn to her compositions and performance.

Hiromi has a deep mastery of her instrument. You can hear many classical jazz styles meshed into her performances along with her own unique style. Watching her, even just on YouTube, you get a sense that when she sits in front of a piano, it isn't a discreet structure, but a part of her body. You can almost watch the ideas flow from her head down her arms and through her fingers. It is no longer a musician performing an instrument, but an artist using magic to paint melodies and structure in a way that looks intense, inviting, and effortless.

Betsy Tinney talks about how she teaches improv and how you play a note and savor the sound of that note in comparison to what else is being played even if it's dissonant. Find the place where you hear that note and let it fill you with its existence before moving to something that sounds "easier". I think of that when I see one of Hiromi's toying characteristics come out where she worries over a 2 or 3 note phrase on the piano.. and holds it through chord progressions.. and holds it.. and holds it.. far past where it seems like it should fit in.. And she continues to hold it playfully as she builds suspense with her audience with whom she knows this causes tension and sometimes discomfort and then releasing us gasping back into the established progression.

We saw her manually mute piano strings with her hand as she emulated the sound of what became an upright bass solo in the middle of her solo piano performance. It may not be a unique technique, but she made it seem like a natural part of the composition, and as with the rest, made it seem effortless.

She is a very expressive and passionate performer. You can see the emotion of the music she's playing, and it is very clear that these performances are things she really enjoys in the moment. One of our party members commented that it seemed as though her perspective was that having an audience for her was probably optional. She seemed to be having her own party on stage and we were just observers that happened to be there. I would have agreed except that in addition to her emotional deep-dives, there were moments where she clearly was toying with our musical sensibilities and watching and listening to us react. She would play a phrase and watch us with an adorable and mischievous grin as it became apparent what she was trying to do. She very much knew we were there and she was happy to bring us in to her performance.

She traveled in the past with a trio called the Hiromi Trio Project made up of she, Anthony Jackson, and Simon Philips. The musicianship as you may imagine, was off the charts. There are YouTube videos of performances in the Trio. She also has some of her solo work as well.

It was an amazing delight to behold her, and I hope that she will be by Seattle again. I highly recommend digging around and finding her stuff.

Please go find her, and I hope you enjoy her as much as I have.

Living in the land of virtual reality

So how are you?

We're managing. Learning to live this new reality we all have where being a home is the preference most of the time.

Just as the writing on the wall was starting to appear, we took the opportunity to excavate what was supposed to be a home office that was still housing many unpacked boxes, and we got in into shape very quickly. I've been pretty happy about that. Most of the house has been home full time. I am required to be at work periodically due to the nature of my job, and another roommate is working retail. We'll see with the latest hunker down order if her stores stay open.

Last night, we got the official order from the Governor to stay home. It sounds like non-essential businesses would be asked to close. We had mostly been doing that already, so it feels like less of a change. We're trying to help local restaurants out with the more than occasional take-out order as we can. I'm sure it's not much, but hopefully it helps some.

Grocery shopping hasn't been too bad so far. Most of the things we need we've been able to find besides toilet paper, though even for that, we managed to get a pack recently by hitting the restock at the right time. I have realized that we do need to do a better job of thinking about storage in the pantry and looking towards more long-term needs. My inner prepper has been ashamed of me, and I need to lean into my dalliance with Mormonism and get us in a better spot soon. People in the shops seem to be doing a good job of keeping apart. We all look a little shell-shocked both from the situation and the fact that the store looks like snow day x100. I imagine that will continue to be the sitch for a while.

I'm told that the rumor is that at least our state will reach peak around April 7th. Should be interesting what that ends up looking like. Numb-nuts is saying he wants the country to be back to normal the following weekend. Yeah.. fuck him. People of all political affiliations that have been more sensible still haven't gotten it through their thick heads what it is going to take to oust him. So he won't be. People will die and worse will come, and the followers that enable him will proudly stand on their beliefs as they burn to death. Folks don't know what to do with that.

I know the extroverts of the family have been having a time of it. Thankfully, technology has helped some with that with various virtual meetups and gatherings. I even reinstalled Marco Polo myself to send along some video messages to folks. I don't need the social interaction nearly as much, but even I have noticed that I need more than I've been getting. It's interesting. I imagine we learn a lot about ourselves in a crisis.

Beyond all that, I'm getting an amazing amount of stuff done at home. And not just work. :-) My closet has had boxes of unpacked clothes and other soft goods that we hadn't worked where to put, so I got them unpacked, washed, folded, and now finding out what we're keeping and what we're donating. I've dug fairly deep into my clothes and have sorted out the stuff I probably will never wear again, and got it ready to donate. The floor of my closet, formerly filled with boxes and in some cases miscellaneous clothes is now completely visible. I'm also getting ready to put up two new pan hanging racks in the kitchen that we've desperately needed. I've been working on some house related technology projects. And I did the last-freeze rose pruning, and I weeded the front flower bed and got my daisies ready to shine. And I'm pleased to note that the lilies I planted last year are coming back as well as the mixed columbine. Hoping to see good things this year in that bed, and we have plans to clear out the south shade bed, and I've got plans for that one too. The one thing that has been obvious about nature lately is that Spring stops for no-one and no thing. The cherry trees have been going crazy and everything else is shooting up. Looking forward to seeing things continue.

Musically, I've been getting in practice time with my bass nearly every day. My wrist had finally healed enough that I need to make some time for piano too. I recently picked up Vince Guaraldi's Charlie Brown Christmas sheet music book, and hope to have one or two under my belt and memorized the next time around. I have some other fun stuff to do, and I hope to make some time to for a little free form composition and playful time.

Beyond that, just doing what we can to keep moving and carrying on. Hope you and yours are doing well. Hope to see you on the virtual side in the meantime, and please take care of yourselves. *hugs*