glitch25

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.

One of the things I'd like to continue to do, and this has less to do with the secular new year and more to do with the "finally at a point where I can start", is publicly post reviews and comments about stuffs. Movies, books, products, etc. Some of it is record for me, but some of it is also record for the ether. One of the things I've realized is that I really like taking advantage of other people's reviews of things, but I rarely contribute. Time to fix that.

Along those lines, I finally finished Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash. Liked it quite a bit. I really enjoyed the technological side of it, and I appreciated how a recent viewing of the Bruce Willis flick, Surrogates, tied in well with aspects of it. This book also reminded me that I continue to be sorely ignorant in matters of mythology, and that I would do well to spend some time researching and learning some of the greater historical mythos.

Overall, I liked the story, but the end crescendoed in a big busy flurry. I may have to re-read sections because I think I missed a few things. I really enjoyed the religious aspects and implications and the idea that while I think there are established ancient ways of tapping into deeper parts of ourselves, those ways aren't the only mechanism, or better stated, those ways are a more homogenized and overly foolproof way of triggering the mechanism, and while successful, are lacking the greater understanding of the mechanism itself.

But like anything else, some people just want things to work. They don't need to know how or why. They just want to push button, get treat. Nothing wrong with that. But others want to know how button arrives at treat and if there are other ways that involve different buttons or no button at all. :-)

Not that I've ever had a problem with pushing buttons. ;-)

Good book though. I look forward to reading others of his!

And for the moment, I'm off reading the latest Dexter book that came out in September. I really enjoy that series as well and appreciate that the TV series diverged enough that I can hold the two worlds separately.