OCTOBER 2019 OCTOBER
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Composing With Colors jazzedmagazine.com INSIDE
Focus Session: Developing a Great Vibrato ‘Tearing Down the Silos’: Inside Aspen’s New Jazz ‘Boot Camp’ Collaboration Between Jazz Aspen Snowmass and the Frost School of Music spotlight
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azz pianist and composer cover of a tune the pianist had Hiromi Uehara is a whirling been dying to do: the “Cantina Theme” from Star Wars. And the Jdervish of musical energy. Her By Bryan Reesman diverse recorded repertoire over the duo performed it their own special style last 16 years verifi es that claim. While she which went beyond the original melody. has released a fair number of solo albums, she Her collaboration with Castaneda is typical of also revels in collaborating with equally talented peers who how Hiromi interprets jazz, in which she implements diff erent allow her to widen her horizons. She already shares a Grammy approaches that range from the melodic to the textural. On her Award for performing with The Stanley Clarke Band on their 2010 new solo piano album Spectrum, one track fi nds her interpreting self-titled album, which won Best Contemporary Jazz Album at Gershwin in her own inimitable way while another has a boogie the Grammy Awards in 2011. feel to it. Going back in her catalog yields the same kind of re- I fi rst saw Hiromi live at the Montreal Jazz Festival in 2017 sults, with “Kung Fu World Champion,” from her sophomore al- where she played a concert with harp player Edmar Castaneda, bum Brain, serving up a dissonant, funky vibe. By contrast, on the which was recorded for a subsequent live CD titled, appropriate- Sonicbloom Live track “Note From The Past,” she is plucking the ly enough, Live In Montreal. They had shared the same stage the strings inside the piano with her players matching that approach. previous year but for their own sets. “It was my fi rst time seeing That tune off ers more of a rhythmic thrust. him live,” she recalls. “I was just fascinated by how he plays and Such eclecticism started with her original childhood teacher, the way he uses his instrument. It was really magical.” Noriko Hikida, who in their home country of Japan instructed the Both musicians embrace many musical genres and like to test young Hiromi in an unusual manner. She taught her to think in unorthodox ideas. For example, The Guardian in the U.K. noted terms of colors, not traditional musical terms. how Castaneda begins one of the Montreal tunes sounding like “I think she was trying to fi nd the way to teach little kids,” recalls a ragtime guitarist and ends sounding like a kora player. The live Hiromi. “When teachers use musical-specifi c terms, sometimes it’s album spans diff erent moods and styles and includes a special hard for kids to understand what these words mean. For example,
16 JAZZed • October 2019 there are all kinds of dynamic symbols on tion,” recalls Hiromi. “I always loved per- “I was always interested in scoring for the score – forte, piano, mezzoforte, and forming, even in a little school concert visuals,” says Hiromi. “I love lm music, crescendo – and there are also musical just playing one song. It was fascinating and writing jingles is like [creating] short terms like expressivo and marcato. It’s to share this music journey with all of lm music. So I said, ‘I would love to if I hard to understand sometimes, and what these audiences. They were just parents can have the opportunity.’ That’s how he she did was colored all these score papers of the kids who were studying in the introduced me to the jingle writing world. with colored pencils – the forte symbol same class, but still for me it was always I remember that one of the Nissan com- with red, pianissimo with blue – so that an audience. That made me really want to mercials that I did starred Mr. Bean, Row- I could visually see what these sections become a professional pianist and pursue an Atkinson, and he was going around should sound like. This section should this career.” She is happiest on stage. this [tra c] circle in England in his car, sound more ery, more powerful, strong. At 14, Hiromi played with the Czech and I had to write songs to it. It was so That section should sound more roman- Philharmonic Orchestra. When she was much fun.” tic, melancholic, soft.” She felt that it was 17, Chick Corea saw her perform in Tokyo The pianist says that her jingle writing easier for 6 year-olds to envision these and asked to join him onstage at his per- experience actually boosted her interest colors and play rather than interpreting formance at the Tokyo Jazz Festival the in writing for other instruments. Up until unfamiliar terminology. following night. Eleven years later they then, she was mostly writing for piano. Hiromi studied under Hikida between recorded the Duet live CD at the Blue Note “To write for jingles, I had to write for oth- the ages of 6 and 18. Hikida was a big Jazz Club in Tokyo. Things had come full er instruments,” notes Hiromi. “Sometimes fan of jazz, particularly Errol Garner and circle. with string quartets, sometimes for horns, Oscar Peterson, and she introduced her When she was 18, Hiromi attended the sometimes for vocals. I started to have in- young student to their music early on. Yamaha School of Music in Japan to fur- terest in studying the other instruments, “I was 8 when I rst heard Errol Gar- ther focus on composing. She played in so it was the time for me to go to Berklee ner’s Concert By The Sea and Oscar Peter- clubs around Tokyo, and one of the bosses [to do so].” son’s We Get Requests, and I was just fasci- of a jingle company happened to be at one Hiromi’s prodigious talents were quick- nated by how happy they sounded,” says of her shows. He found out that she played ly noticed at Berklee, where she enrolled Hiromi. “I couldn’t stop dancing to the and composed, so he met her and asked if at age 20 in 1999. She says a lot of her music. Then she explained that they play she would like to write some jingles. opportunities came about naturally. She what they feel at the moment. That’s im- provisation. [I said] ‘Wow, that’s so cool. So they don’t read music?’ ‘No, they don’t. They just play over the chords.’ That was a little too complicated to explain to me because I was 8. I started listening to all this music and just tried to imitate them, copy what they did.” The musical prodigy began compos- ing music at the age of 6 years old. When asked whether she has revisited anything that she wrote as a child, she notes that one works with the inspiration around them. “The inspiration you have at age 6 or 7 is very childish,” she laughs. “I wrote this song when I was 7 [called] ‘Why Can’t Chickens Fly?’ Chickens try to y and they fail, and they just keep trying and fail. I guess nally, in a dreamy world, they could y.” While she says that early tune did have a certain jazz feel to it, she of- fers that it falls in the domain of the “chil- dren’s playbook.” Hikida always told the precocious Hi- romi that she sounded di erent when she was on stage, that she sounded bet- ter when she performed than in the prac- tice room. She told the young pianist that that was a really rare quality, and that she should really pursue a musical career. “She always pushed me in that direc-
October 2019 • JAZZed 17 spotlight studied under veteran bassist/arranger body compliments you, right? Same Richard Evans, whom she recalls was pro- thing for me. I love playing the piano. fessor of arranging. She took his class for Of course, there are certain hours that writing for strings. The pianist was major- I do play scales up and down, but even ing in jazz composition and also contem- so, I just love this instrument. It has so porary writing and production, but not in much to explore, and the more I play performance. the more fun it gets. That’s what I al- “He didn’t know me as a pianist,” re- ways tell little kids when they come to veals Hiromi. “He only knew me as an my concerts, and their parents ask me, arranger and a composer. He liked one ‘What’s the key to playing better and of the midterm projects that I did, and practicing more?’ I always tell them, the he said, ‘For the nal project, if you write more you play the more fun it gets.” your own composition, you should try to Although it seems like Hiromi would arrange it. Bring one of your own compo- make a great instructor, she does not sitions during o ce hours.’” conduct master classes or give private She then recorded an original tune lessons. She does not have a lot of free and played it to her professor. Upon hear- time to be able to do that. ing it, the rst thing Evans inquired about “I can give simple advice,” she o ers. was who played the piano. The track was “But to really teach is very di erent from “The Tom and Jerry Show,” which wound just being able to play. The teaching up being re-recorded for her debut al- needs professional skill, in my opinion. bum Another Mind in 2003, the year she For example, my rst piano teacher graduated from Berklee. After Hiromi couldn’t really play the piano much, but disclosed that she was the one playing, she was a professional teacher. [With] Evans became excited and said he had to I always wonder why people even people who can play the instrument, it have a friend listen to the track. doesn’t mean that they are good teach- “His friend happened to be Ahmad compliment me when I play for many, ers. Good teachers don’t have to be Jamal,” she says. “So all these things just good players. I think the teaching needs happened really naturally, and I didn’t many hours on the piano. If you play really speci c professional skill to do, even have time to be shocked or sur- to really nd out what each kid really prised. Ahmad contacted me after listen- video games for many hours, nobody needs. I [would] not consider myself a ing to ‘The Tom and Jerry Show,’ and then good teacher. I can’t be responsible for he introduced me to the record compa- compliments you, right? that. I can give advice here and there. It ny.” That label, Telarc, has released all of comes with great responsibility to teach her albums. someone, and you have to be skillful.” Throughout her recording career, Hi- Mixing up classic jazz with a lot of romi has worked with an impressive vari- modern in uences, Hiromi creates a ety of di erent musicians. She gravitates personal style that seems to be more towards people that push themselves on likely to be embraced by a younger fan their instruments, which in turn launches base, especially as she has gotten up on her out of her comfort zone. She admits stage with as many as three keyboards that she does not like to take the easy along with her piano. But she says she way out. has felt a connection her diverse au- When one listens to “Kaleidoscope,” diences. “I’m sure for some people it the opening track of her new solo album, might be not their cup of tea, but music the power behind her technique is clear, is like cuisine,” she says. “Some people with her hands working uidly and in- like this restaurant or the other restau- dependent of each other. She is playing rant. Someday you want to something rapidly staccato on one hand, while the greasy or something lighter. I think other is playing a very fast, owing melo- wanting to eat food is very similar to dy line. She is very much in control. One wanting to listen to music.” imagines she practices quite often. She attracts a multi-generation- “Playing piano is my vocation,” she al crowd to her shows. “I think there observes. “I don’t really count how many are a lot of young artists that attract a hours I play. I always wonder why peo- younger audience,” says Hiromi. “When ple even compliment me when I play for I see my own audience, it’s really mixed many, many hours on the piano. If you from young to the old. Then there are play video games for many hours, no- teenagers. At one concert in Europe, I
18 JAZZed • October 2019 saw a 7 year-old kid who de nitely looked Anthony Jackson, and drummer Simon like he’s studying piano. Next to him there Phillips. They produced a wide range of was a lady who was wearing a really nice styles through their e orts. Phillips is dress with a pearl necklace. And then next known for straddling the rock and jazz to her there was a guy who was in an Iron worlds and has toured with and record- Maiden t-shirt. That’s how my audiences ed with the likes of The Who, Toto, Je are, and it’s amazing to see all these dif- Beck, Mike Old eld and Judas Priest. ferent characters that come to my show. I “He’s an amazing drummer,” concurs really appreciate that.” Hiromi. “He has so many drums in his kit Spectrum is Hiromi’s second solo piano that he really uses every drum. I could album, and the main concept is colors. see that he really needs all these drums.” “I tried to write every day, like keeping a Phillips plays tom toms called Octobans. just really want to learn. That’s how I feel journal,” explains Hiromi of her creative He has eight of them, but Hiromi says he when I play with these people. I’m trying process. “There are so many songs that I only takes four on tour. not to miss every learning opportunity. wrote under the concept of colors. I went “I even wrote a song using the Octo- I think it’s important that you are always through all of the score book that I’d been bans,” she says. “I wrote the motif using hungry to learn. Listening is the best learn- writing and I picked all these songs, the those tom toms to start with that. Those ing source for me. I love listening to music ideas and the motifs that I’d been writing were very magical years working with An- and just try to learn something from it.” under the theme of colors, and assembled thony Jackson and Simon Phillips.” As far as imparting valuable advice ac- them.” Hiromi views every new collaboration crued over years of playing, Hiromi o ers, Her goal is to record one solo piano as a possibility to learn. “I love pushing “The more you play, you can technically album every decade. The rst one, Place people’s limits,” she says, “and the people play more things in more ways. But you To Be, was released 10 years ago when Hi- who I choose to play with love pushing also can have more colors in your palette. romi was about to turn 30 and she want- me to go beyond limits so that we can see When I was 6, if the teacher told me you ed to capture the “sound of her twenties.” the landscape that we have never seen have to play blue, then I probably knew Thus, her latest e ort is meant to capture before together. So it’s always been really one way to play blue. Now I can play deep the sound of her thirties, to re ect upon challenging.” blue, light blue. I know so many di erent the experiences she has gone through The pianist adds that any time she ways to play blue as well as other colors. over the last decade and how they ltered plays with amazing musicians like Stanley It doesn’t only come with techniques and into the music that she has produced. Clarke, Chick Corea, or Michel Camilo, the the piano; it also comes with the experi- In comparing her thirties to her twen- experience “really teaches me so much,” ence of life and so many di erent things. ties, Hiromi muses that she now has more she remarks. “Every minute of playing with If you are sincere with your instrument, I colors to her playing. “I was very happy them is like a learning experience to me. I think you can make that happen.” about it,” she says. “When I play softer, I can feel more sensitivity to it. I can play a di erent kind of softness compared to 10 years ago, and I feel a little closer to my in- JOHN FEDCHOCK strument.” AVAILABLE FOR CONCERTS, CLINICS, COMMISSIONS With age and experience comes a re- vised outlook on past work that one has “Fedchock’s playing is simply phenomenal.” previously composed and released. Hi- – INTERNATIONAL TROMBONE JOURNAL romi does nd herself revisiting and re- “...dazzling trombone virtuosity.” interpreting some past work in a concert – THE NEW YORK TIMES setting. She can play a trio song in a solo setting, or perhaps perform it with a dif- “Fedchock’s band commands your ferent trio. attention and holds it.” – DOWNBEAT “Also, your age and who you’re playing with can really make the song look dif- SOLOIST & BANDLEADER JOHNFEDCHOCK.COM • John Fedchock New York Big Band ferent,” she remarks. “Every time I enjoy it • John Fedchock NY Sextet because when I play [it] in a di erent time • John Fedchock Quartet period, the song actually teaches me a dif- CLINICIAN ferent perspective, a di erent angle that I • Clinics, Masterclasses didn’t know before. That’s really interest- & Residencies • XO Brass Trombone Artist ing.” COMPOSER & ARRANGER It is noteworthy to mention that be- • Two-Time Grammy Nominee tween 2011 and 2016, Hiromi recorded • Published by Jazzzlines Publications, four studio albums and a live album with Walrus Music & Kendor Music The Trio Project consisting of her, bassist [email protected] | (718) 626-0434 | 2270 46TH ST. ASTORIA, NY 11105
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