Time Travel (Live)

Hiromi’s Sonicbloom: Hiromi Uehara (piano, synthesizer), David Fiuczynski (electric guitar), Tony Grey (electric bass) and Martin Valihora (drums) playing in Spain (2008). From the album Time Control (2007).

In 2007, Hiromi Uehara founded Hiromi’s Sonicbloom by adding guitarist David Fiuczynski and presenting the concept album Time Control, with the notion of time as the main subject. A conceptual album is one that is linked by a common thread, either in the composition, in the instrumentation or in the lyrics, between the tracks that make it up. In hers, Hiromi plays mainly piano and thanks to her classical instruction, her harmonic modulation is extraordinary, interacting with Fiuczynski at an impressive speed to the point that sometimes it’s difficult to know who is doing his or her solo.

In 2008 Hiromi’s Sonicbloom recorded its second and final work Beyond Standard, consisting of a set of jazz standards in a jazz fusion style where Hiromi shows her ability to integrate improvisations into the band’s rendition without disturbing the structure of the original theme. In 2009 Hiromi and Chick Corea got together to launch the double album Duet: Chick & Hiromi, which includes the transgenerational and transcultural concert they gave in Tokyo the year before in which sparks fly. Corea is a lyrical pianist, while Hiromi is emphatic and rhythmic, which produced a striking contrast.

Also in 2009 she collaborated in Jazz in the Garden by electric bassist Stanley Clarke with drummer Lenny White, both from the famous jazz fusion group Return to Forever. Then she published the post-bop album Place to Be playing eleven new pieces alone in an intimate and sensational way. In addition, the Tokyo: Hiromi Live in Concert (recorded in 2005) and Hiromi’s Sonicbloom Live in Concert (recorded in 2007) DVDs went on sale. In 2010 she contributed to The Stanley Clarke Band by this same musician, which won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album.