jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
composer and pianist. She is known for her virtuosic technique, energetic live performances and blend of musical genres such as
stride
Stride or STRIDE may refer to:
Computing
* STRIDE (security), spoofing, tampering, repudiation, information disclosure, denial of service, elevation of privilege
* Stride (software), a successor to the cloud-based HipChat, a corporate cloud-based ...
,
post-bop
Post-bop is a genre of small-combo jazz that evolved in the early to mid 1960s in the United States. Pioneers of the genre, such as Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, John Coltrane and Jackie McLean, crafted syntheses ...
,
progressive rock
Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...
fusion
Fusion, or synthesis, is the process of combining two or more distinct entities into a new whole.
Fusion may also refer to:
Science and technology Physics
*Nuclear fusion, multiple atomic nuclei combining to form one or more different atomic nucl ...
in her compositions.
Biography
Uehara was born in
Hamamatsu
is a city located in western Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. the city had an estimated population of 791,707 in 340,591 households, making it the prefecture's largest city, and a population density of . The total area of the site was .
Overview
...
, Japan. She started learning piano at the age of six and was introduced to
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
by her piano teacher Noriko Hikida when she was eight. At age 14, she played with the
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra
The Česká filharmonie (Czech Philharmonic) is a symphony orchestra based in Prague. The orchestra's principal concert venue is the Rudolfinum.
History
The name "Czech Philharmonic Orchestra" appeared for the first time in 1894, as the title ...
. When she was 17 years old, she met
Chick Corea
Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea (June 12, 1941 – February 9, 2021) was an American jazz composer, pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and occasional percussionist. His compositions "Spain", " 500 Miles High", "La Fiesta", "Armando's Rhumba", and ...
by chance in
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
and was invited to play with him at his concert the next day. After being a
jingle
A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meaning that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually t ...
writer for a few years for Japanese companies such as
Nissan
, trade name, trading as Nissan Motor Corporation and often shortened to Nissan, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The company sells ...
, she enrolled to study at
Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level cours ...
Ahmad Jamal
Ahmad Jamal (born Frederick Russell Jones, July 2, 1930) is an American jazz pianist, composer, bandleader and educator. For six decades, he has been one of the most successful small-group leaders in jazz.
Biography Early life
Jamal was born Fr ...
and had already signed with jazz label
Telarc
Telarc International Corporation is an American audiophile independent record label founded in 1977 by two classically trained musicians and former teachers, Jack Renner and Robert Woods. Based in Cleveland, Ohio, the label has had a long associ ...
before her graduation.
She debuted in 2003 with her album, ''
Another Mind
''Another Mind'' is the debut release from Hiromi Uehara, a jazz and jazz fusion pianist. It was released in 2003 and received the award for foreign jazz album of the year in the 2004 Japan Annual Gold Disc Awards.
Reception
Peter Marsh of BBC ...
'', and has toured and appeared in jazz festivals regularly since then. She formed an initial trio with bassist Mitch Cohn and drummer Dave DiCenso, and in 2004, she recorded her second album ''
Brain
A brain is an organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It is located in the head, usually close to the sensory organs for senses such as vision. It is the most complex organ in a v ...
'' with fellow Berklee alumni bassist
Tony Grey
Tony Grey (born March 25, 1975, in Newcastle, England) is an English bass player, composer, producer, author and award winning music educator; Grey studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston and graduated receiving the "Outstanding Performe ...
and drummer
Martin Valihora
Martin Valihora (born 4 May 1976) is a Slovak drummer and percussionist.
Valihora studied piano between 1986 and 1987, but then switched to drums, having received private lessons from a Slovak drummer Oldo Petráš. He then studied drums and pe ...
, as well as bassist Anthony Jackson, who was a guest on three tracks. She continued to record and tour with Grey and Valihora until 2009. On October 19, 2006, the trio added guitarist
David Fiuczynski
David Fiuczynski (born March 5, 1964) is an American contemporary jazz guitarist, best known as the leader of the Screaming Headless Torsos and David Fiuczynski's KiF, and as a member of Hasidic New Wave. He has played on more than 95 albums as ...
in a performance at the Jazz Factory in Louisville, Kentucky, to form Hiromi's Sonicbloom. Fiuczynski is also featured in the albums ''
Time Control
A time control is a mechanism in the tournament play of almost all two-player board games so that each round of the match can finish in a timely way and the tournament can proceed. Time controls are typically enforced by means of a game clock, ...
'' (2007) and ''
Beyond Standard
''Beyond Standard'' is an album by Hiromi Uehara’s group, Hiromi’s Sonicbloom. Contrasted with her previous albums that featured mostly original compositions, this one is a collection of Jazz standards played in a fusion style.
Reception
Chr ...
'' (2008). Due to Fiuczynski's teaching commitments at Berklee, guitarist John Shannon performed with the group when Fiuczynski was unavailable.
Drummer Mauricio Zottarelli joined Hiromi's Sonicbloom for the 2009 tour. Uehara also performed at the
Newport Jazz Festival
The Newport Jazz Festival is an annual American multi-day jazz music festival held every summer in Newport, Rhode Island. Elaine Lorillard established the festival in 1954, and she and husband Louis Lorillard financed it for many years. They hire ...
on August 8, 2009, and at the
Paris Olympia
The Olympia (; commonly known as L'Olympia or in the English-speaking world as Olympia Hall) is a concert venue in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, France, located at 28 Boulevard des Capucines, equally distancing Madeleine church and Opéra G ...
in Paris on April 13, 2010, and toured in the summer of 2010 with the
Stanley Clarke
Stanley Clarke (born June 30, 1951) is an American bassist, film composer and founding member of Return to Forever, one of the first jazz fusion bands. Clarke gave the bass guitar a prominence it lacked in jazz-related music. He is the first jaz ...
Band.
Anthony Jackson, who was previously a guest on the ''Brain'' album, joined Uehara along with drummer Simon Phillips as part of the Trio Project for the 2011 album ''
Voice
The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound production in ...
''. The Trio Project went on to make the albums ''
Move
Move may refer to:
People
* Daniil Move (born 1985), a Russian auto racing driver
Brands and enterprises
* Move (company), an online real estate company
* Move (electronics store), a defunct Australian electronics retailer
* Daihatsu Move
Go ...
'' (2012), ''
Alive
Alive may refer to:
*Life
Books, comics and periodicals
* ''Alive'' (novel), a 2015 novel by Scott Sigler
* '' Alive: The Final Evolution'', a 2003 shonen manga by Tadashi Kawashima and Adachitoka
* '' Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors'', ...
'' (2014), and ''
Spark
Spark commonly refers to:
* Spark (fire), a small glowing particle or ember
* Electric spark, a form of electrical discharge
Spark may also refer to:
Places
* Spark Point, a rocky point in the South Shetland Islands
People
* Spark (surname)
* ...
'' (2016). ''Spark'' reached the number one position on the US Billboard Jazz Albums chart for the week of April 23, 2016.
In 2021 she performed at the opening ceremony of the
2020 Tokyo Olympics
The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July.
Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...
.
Instruments
In a 2010 interview, Uehara said she plays the
Yamaha Yamaha may refer to:
* Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services, established in 1887. The company is the largest shareholder of Yamaha Motor Company (below).
** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organization estab ...
CFIII-S concert
grand piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
Korg
, founded as Keio Electronic Laboratories, is a Japanese multinational corporation that manufactures electronic musical instruments, audio processors and guitar pedals, recording equipment, and electronic tuners. Under the Vox brand name, they ...
Mihara Yasuhiro
Mihara Yasuhiro (born June, 1972) is a Japanese fashion designer who founded his own fashion brand.
Biography
Yasuhiro was born in June 1972 in Nagasaki, Japan.
Yasuhiro launched his first brand, ''archi doom'' in 1996. Later on he introduce ...
in 2007. They met after she performed at one of his fashion shows in Milan the year before.
Discography
Studio albums
As "Hiromi"
* ''
Another Mind
''Another Mind'' is the debut release from Hiromi Uehara, a jazz and jazz fusion pianist. It was released in 2003 and received the award for foreign jazz album of the year in the 2004 Japan Annual Gold Disc Awards.
Reception
Peter Marsh of BBC ...
Brain
A brain is an organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It is located in the head, usually close to the sensory organs for senses such as vision. It is the most complex organ in a v ...
'' (Telarc Jazz, 2004)
* ''
Spiral
In mathematics, a spiral is a curve which emanates from a point, moving farther away as it revolves around the point.
Helices
Two major definitions of "spiral" in the American Heritage Dictionary are:Place to Be'' (Telarc Jazz, 2009)
* ''
Spectrum
A spectrum (plural ''spectra'' or ''spectrums'') is a condition that is not limited to a specific set of values but can vary, without gaps, across a continuum. The word was first used scientifically in optics to describe the rainbow of colors i ...
'' (Telarc Jazz, 2019)
As "Hiromi's Sonicbloom"
* ''
Time Control
A time control is a mechanism in the tournament play of almost all two-player board games so that each round of the match can finish in a timely way and the tournament can proceed. Time controls are typically enforced by means of a game clock, ...
'' (Telarc Jazz, 2007)
* ''
Beyond Standard
''Beyond Standard'' is an album by Hiromi Uehara’s group, Hiromi’s Sonicbloom. Contrasted with her previous albums that featured mostly original compositions, this one is a collection of Jazz standards played in a fusion style.
Reception
Chr ...
'' (Telarc Jazz, 2008)
As "The Trio Project"
* ''
Voice
The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound production in ...
'' (Telarc Jazz, 2011)
* ''
Move
Move may refer to:
People
* Daniil Move (born 1985), a Russian auto racing driver
Brands and enterprises
* Move (company), an online real estate company
* Move (electronics store), a defunct Australian electronics retailer
* Daihatsu Move
Go ...
'' (Telarc Jazz, 2012)
* ''
Alive
Alive may refer to:
*Life
Books, comics and periodicals
* ''Alive'' (novel), a 2015 novel by Scott Sigler
* '' Alive: The Final Evolution'', a 2003 shonen manga by Tadashi Kawashima and Adachitoka
* '' Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors'', ...
'' (Telarc Jazz, 2014)
* ''
Spark
Spark commonly refers to:
* Spark (fire), a small glowing particle or ember
* Electric spark, a form of electrical discharge
Spark may also refer to:
Places
* Spark Point, a rocky point in the South Shetland Islands
People
* Spark (surname)
* ...
'' (Telarc Jazz, 2016)
As "Hiromi The Piano Quintet"
*''
Silver Lining Suite
'' Silver Lining Suite'' is the twelfth studio album by pianist Hiromi Uehara. The album was released by Concord Jazz on 8 October 2021.
Background
Uehara recorded and produced the album during the quarantine period brought on by the COVID-19 pa ...
'' (Universal Music Classic, 2021)
Live albums
With
Chick Corea
Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea (June 12, 1941 – February 9, 2021) was an American jazz composer, pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and occasional percussionist. His compositions "Spain", " 500 Miles High", "La Fiesta", "Armando's Rhumba", and ...
* ''
Duet
A duet is a musical composition for two performers in which the performers have equal importance to the piece, often a composition involving two singers or two pianists. It differs from a harmony, as the performers take turns performing a solo ...
Blue Note
In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note that—for expressive purposes—is sung or played at a slightly different pitch from standard. Typically the alteration is between a quartertone and a semitone, but this varies depending on the musical co ...
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
Stanley Clarke
Stanley Clarke (born June 30, 1951) is an American bassist, film composer and founding member of Return to Forever, one of the first jazz fusion bands. Clarke gave the bass guitar a prominence it lacked in jazz-related music. He is the first jaz ...
Trio featuring Hiromi and
Lenny White
Leonard "Lenny" White III (born December 19, 1949) is an American jazz fusion drummer who was a member of the band Return to Forever led by Chick Corea in the 1970s. White has been called "one of the founding fathers of jazz fusion". He has won ...
, '' Jazz in the Garden'' (Heads Up, 2009)
* Flashback, ''Triangle'' Soundtrack (BMG Japan, 2009)
*
Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra
, commonly abbreviated by fans as Skapara or TSPO, is a Japanese ska and jazz band formed in 1988 by the percussionist Asa-Chang, and initially composed of over 10 veterans of Tokyo's underground scene. At the time, the band's sound was unlike t ...
, ''Goldfingers'' (cutting edge, 2010)
* The Stanley Clarke Band featuring Hiromi, '' The Stanley Clarke Band'' (Heads Up, 2010) - in "No Mystery", "Larry Has Traveled 11 Miles and Waited a Lifetime for the Return of Vishnu's Report", "Labyrinth" and "Sonny Rollins"
*
Akiko Yano
is a Japanese pop and jazz musician and singer born in Tokyo and raised in Aomori and later began her singing career in the mid-1970s. She has been called "one of the major musical talents of the Japanese popular music world", and her vocals an ...
and Hiromi, ''Get Together – Live in Tokyo'' (Universal, 2011)
* Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra, ''Walkin (cutting edge, 2012)
* Kelly Peterson, ''Oscar, With Love'' (Two Lions, 2015) - reissued (Mack Avenue, 2017) in "Take Me Home' and 'Oscar's New Camera"
*
Akiko Yano
is a Japanese pop and jazz musician and singer born in Tokyo and raised in Aomori and later began her singing career in the mid-1970s. She has been called "one of the major musical talents of the Japanese popular music world", and her vocals an ...
and Hiromi, ''Ramen-na Onnatachi'' (Universal, 2017)
* Hiromi &
Edmar Castañeda
Edmar Castañeda (born 1978) is a Colombian harpist. He performs his own compositions as well as tapping into native music of Colombia and Venezuela.
He leads a trio with David Silliman on drums and Marshall Gilkes on trombone. He has also been a ...