Jazz pioneer Hiromi Uehara brings fiery performances to the United States
Hiromi Uehara’s music blends elements of jazz, classical, electronic music, rock and roll, and more.
Photo by Muga Miyahara.
Hiromi Uehara’s alchemy of melodic jazz and gritty rock, propulsive electronic music and virtuosic classical piano, has made her a global phenomenon in the world of improvised music. This November, Hiromi brings her music to four cities in the United States for a run of shows with virtuosic Colombian harpist Edmar Castaneda.
Born in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan in 1979, Hiromi began studying classical piano at age six, quickly earning recognition for her energetic and emotional interpretations. She moved to the United States in 1999, enrolling at Boston’s Berklee College of Music and learning from renowned jazz musicians like Richard Evans and Ahmad Jamal.
Her first CD, 2003’s Another Mind, went gold in Japan and was named the Recording Industry Association of Japan’s Jazz Album of the Year. Subsequent albums including Brain, Spiral, and Time Control earned her public and critical acclaim in Japan, the United States, and beyond. In 2011, Hiromi’s collaboration with veteran bassist Stanley Clarke won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album.
Hiromi’s current creative partnership with Castaneda began at the 2016 Montreal Jazz Festival, where she found herself utterly wowed by the harpist’s live performance. The two musicians are touring extensively together, sharing their likeminded approaches to technique, harmony, and creative energy with audiences around the world. The duo’s debut album together, Live In Montreal, arrives this month.
Watch Hiromi and Castaneda in action, live from Montreal:
Watch Hiromi record the track “Alive”, from her most recent trio album Spark, with the help of veteran musicians Anthony Jackson (bass) and Simon Phillips (drums):
Hiromi met harpist Edmar Castaneda at the Montreal Jazz Festival; they are touring the world in 2017, and will perform in the United States in November.
Hiromi and Edmar Castaneda. Photo by Muga Miyahara.
Photo by Juan Patino.