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Thread: Hiromi Trio - Move

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    Hiromi Trio - Move

    Heard this for the first time last night... and it's awesome! I haven't heard anything of hers since "Beyond Standard," which was a slight letdown for me after "Time Control," which I loved. But shame on me, I should've known better (especially since she's playing with Phillips and Jackson, a couple of my favorite musicians)! Great writing and playing... and I like that she's concentrating on acoustic piano more; I was never crazy about her synth stuff. Are the other two trio records as good as this?

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    Geriatric Anomaly progeezer's Avatar
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    I have Move and actually like this trio's Live album better, although I do play them both quite a bit.

    I know a few prog people who after seeing this trio live (I've seen them twice) quickly developed a taste for piano jazz that had previously been at least dormant, or in some cases non-existent.

    That's what can happen when you have a petite lovely Japanese jazz pianist who's stage demeanor most closely resembles Jerry Lee Lewis.
    "My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician, and to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference"

    President Harry S. Truman

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by progeezer View Post
    That's what can happen when you have a petite lovely Japanese jazz pianist who's stage demeanor most closely resembles Jerry Lee Lewis.
    Wonderfully put.

    Voice was pretty good too, as I recall. Haven't listened to it in a while...

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    Quote Originally Posted by progeezer View Post
    I have Move and actually like this trio's Live album better, although I do play them both quite a bit.

    I know a few prog people who after seeing this trio live (I've seen them twice) quickly developed a taste for piano jazz that had previously been at least dormant, or in some cases non-existent.

    That's what can happen when you have a petite lovely Japanese jazz pianist who's stage demeanor most closely resembles Jerry Lee Lewis.
    ... and who has obvious Keith Emerson influences along with the more likely jazz keyboard influences. But yes, I can't think of any jazz/fusion musician who's more fun to watch... and I have seen her live with her old band, Sonic Bloom. Even my wife (who's not a jazz fan by any means) loved seeing her!

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    Member wideopenears's Avatar
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    I like all the trio records, and there's a live DVD worth getting too.

    I have a mad crush on her, too, frankly. Started following her when Brain was released--I bought it without listening, merely because Anthony was listed in the credits, and she looked so hot on the cover.

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    Quote Originally Posted by wideopenears View Post
    I have a mad crush on her, too, frankly.
    Get in line, Cone!

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    Member Man In The Mountain's Avatar
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    I like "MOVE" the best out of the three "Trio" albums, one of her best albums period. To be honest though, I am hoping she'll move on to something new as this trio format has run it's course after three albums, for me.

    As far as her synth work, I read detractors all the time here, but I wish she would do a LOT more of it again. It was a great return to something long lost.

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    Member Zeuhlmate's Avatar
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    I liked the first album a lot.
    I saw her live in a small club in Hamburg shortly after - great great concert !
    Then she lost the ELP / KC inspiration, and didnt really develop the fusion of styles further, rather became a better mainstream jazz pianist - thats not for me.
    I'd rather hear Tigran Hamasyan.

    I agree with those who thinks she should stick to the piano, the mickeymouse sound she uses is quite out of range of the pianostuff.

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    Moderator Poisoned Youth's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by No Pride View Post
    Heard this for the first time last night... and it's awesome! I haven't heard anything of hers since "Beyond Standard," which was a slight letdown for me after "Time Control," which I loved. But shame on me, I should've known better (especially since she's playing with Phillips and Jackson, a couple of my favorite musicians)! Great writing and playing... and I like that she's concentrating on acoustic piano more; I was never crazy about her synth stuff. Are the other two trio records as good as this?
    I hate when people say this to me, but try giving Beyond Standard another shot. I found it really sank in after a few listens...for me. But I agree that Time Control is unmatched.
    WANTED: Sig-worthy quote.

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    Member nosebone's Avatar
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    Is time control the one with fuze on guitar?

    He ruined it for me.
    no tunes, no dynamics, no nosebone

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    Member Man In The Mountain's Avatar
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    The Fuze is on Time Control & Beyond Standard.

    Beyond Standard gets a lot of flack, but I love it. I think the fact it's a cover album turns people off, but whatever. It has more than enough Hiromi-style to it for me and the stereo dynamics are really wonderful. Love listening to it.

  12. #12
    My piano teacher mentioned her during one of our sessions, although he couldn't remember her name. He was talking about a Japanese girl who played jazz piano and sometimes played a red synth (probably the Nord Lead). I showed him the Hiromi albums I had on my iPhone, and he listened to "Softly As In a Morning Sunrise" from Beyond Standard, which he thought was so cool he bought the CD.

    Being unfamiliar with a lot of jazz standards, I had nothing to compare the cover versions to when I first heard Beyond Standard. I think it's a really nice listen, although probably not on the same level as Time Control.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Poisoned Youth View Post
    I hate when people say this to me, but try giving Beyond Standard another shot. I found it really sank in after a few listens...for me.
    Well, I said it was a slight letdown after Time Control. I do like it; I had it in my car's CD player for a couple of weeks and it grew on me. What was disappointing about it for me was that it was covers. As good as the arrangements and the playing was, Hiromi's composing is a big part of the whole package for me. My only other problem with it was Fuze's fretless guitar. Which leads to my response to Chris...

    Quote Originally Posted by nosebone View Post
    Is time control the one with fuze on guitar?

    He ruined it for me.
    Like Man in the Mountain said, he's on Time Control and Beyond Standard. I was familiar with his playing before I ever heard of Hiromi from the first Screaming Headless Torsos album and an album he made with John Medeski called "Lunar Crush." Though I'll admit he was sort of a wild card as a choice for Hiromi's band, I thought it worked surprisingly well. She was a fan of his work and I am too (though it took me a while to get past his "lo-fi" sound). He's an extremely unique player within the realm of guitar players, which is no small feat. I don't know if it's his intent, but sometimes I think he's going for laughs when he plays; at least some of his shit cracks me up! Sometimes he'll play something that's so choppy and disjointed that you'll question his abilities, then he'll play some fast, fluid modern jazz lines that are so "on"... it's like he's saying, "I was just kidding with that other stuff!" There's nobody in the world that plays quite like him! I think Hiromi's music brought out another side of him; the side that is very adept at improvising over chord changes and can play very lyrically when he wants to. And the way that he nails her difficult composed unison and harmony lines further proves that he's a very capable player technically.

    But then there's his fretless guitar playing. I can't remember if he used fretless at all on Time Control, but he plays it on several tunes on Beyond Standard and I find it particularly annoying. I don't care for the instrument in general, but I can listen to Pat Metheny and Guthrie Govan play one. Fuze delves more into the microtonal aspects of the instrument and I can barely stand listening to that.

    Quote Originally Posted by Man In The Mountain View Post
    The Fuze is on Time Control & Beyond Standard.

    Beyond Standard gets a lot of flack, but I love it. I think the fact it's a cover album turns people off, but whatever. It has more than enough Hiromi-style to it for me and the stereo dynamics are really wonderful. Love listening to it.
    I think I'd be able to appreciate it more if I hadn't heard Time Control first. Like I said, I want to hear HER tunes, not her arrangements of covers, clever as they can be (and that wasn't even always the case; I don't care for what she did with Debussy's "Claire de Lune" at all, it's perfect in it's original form imo and shouldn't be messed with). This is why I loved "Move" at first listen; it's all Hiromi's compositions and they're as great as ever!
    Last edited by No Pride; 10-16-2015 at 11:07 AM.

  14. #14
    Hiromi is awesome. all 3 Trio releases were winners IMO with Alive being my fave only slightly above Move. I can easily recommend her 1st 3 as well....Another Mind, Brain and Spiral. good stuff indeed!
    i.ain't.dead.irock

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    Quote Originally Posted by aith01 View Post
    My piano teacher mentioned her during one of our sessions, although he couldn't remember her name. He was talking about a Japanese girl who played jazz piano and sometimes played a red synth (probably the Nord Lead). I showed him the Hiromi albums I had on my iPhone, and he listened to "Softly As In a Morning Sunrise" from Beyond Standard, which he thought was so cool he bought the CD.
    Softly as in a Morning Sunrise is one of those well loved standards that a zillion jazz artists have covered. Here's the Coltrane Quartet playing it (McCoy Tyner on piano):



    Quote Originally Posted by proggosaurus View Post
    Hiromi is awesome. all 3 Trio releases were winners IMO with Alive being my fave only slightly above Move. I can easily recommend her 1st 3 as well....Another Mind, Brain and Spiral. good stuff indeed!
    I have those first three. I plan on letting "Move" sink in for a while and then move on to the other two Trio Project albums.

    And here they are playing the title track from Move live:


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    I could watch that vid all day long.

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    Quote Originally Posted by wideopenears View Post
    I could watch that vid all day long.
    I actually feel sorry for Anthony Jackson. How would you like to hold down that ostinato for the better part of 10 minutes?!

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    All the trio ones are fantastic.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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    Member wideopenears's Avatar
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    AJ's got some stamina, eh? That bass is a beast, man.

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    Walked past her in a hallway once early before her solo concert, and she is super-small, I guessed 4'10". Gets monster sounds from those little hands. Her high point (ha) for me so far is the title track from Voice. I think she does a very brief (few seconds) musical shout-out to Keith Emerson on the title track Another Mind.

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    Hiromi is also on the Stanley Clarke trio album with Lenny White. It's more jazzy and less fusion.

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    Hiromi piano conversations:

    With Michel Camilo


    With Chick Corea

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    I haven't picked up her cd with chick yet. I wonder if is enjoy it or not.


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    Quote Originally Posted by No Pride View Post
    Softly as in a Morning Sunrise is one of those well loved standards that a zillion jazz artists have covered. Here's the Coltrane Quartet playing it (McCoy Tyner on piano):





    I have those first three. I plan on letting "Move" sink in for a while and then move on to the other two Trio Project albums.

    And here they are playing the title track from Move live:

    Holy freaking crap! I just love her. and Simon has adopted her hairstyle. He and anthony are both amazing too!

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