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tal. He’s always trying to open up sounds that
have never been played before. I appreciate that.
I love his attitude toward invention.”
With Sonicbloom, Hiromi often pumps up
the volume with electric keyboards, sometimes
playing acoustic piano with her left hand and
electric with her right. “I grew up watching
videos of all the guitarists at Woodstock, and I
loved Jeff Beck,” she says. “I loved how guitarists
could bend the sound and sustain a note as
long as they want. Wow, I thought, I can’t do
that with the piano. How can I get that effect?
That’s when I discovered what an electric keyboard
could do.”
At the Blue Note, Hiromi takes the stage
and maintains eye contact with Clarke,
who had enlisted her to play on his trio
album Jazz In The Garden (Heads Up) with
White. Live, she tilts her head back and serves
up rapid tinklings, double-hand pounces, chordal
stomps. During the inspired moments of full
drive, she stands up from her piano bench and
instigates the intensity. At the end of the set,
which featured tunes from Clarke’s CD, she and
her elders receive a standing ovation.
Her parents, who were sitting at the same
cramped table as impresario George Wein, are
pleased.
Upstairs, White praises Hiromi’s performance.
“Hiromi’s great, but she’s still a young
artist,” he says. “The one thing that’s been good
is that she isn’t afraid to ask questions. By doing
that, she’s able to grow. Playing this kind of
music that Stanley and I are so familiar with
requires having some knowledge of what happened
when we were developing it so that it can
be represented in the right way. Hiromi didn’t
come in and just start playing. She asked questions
first, which made it enjoyable for us. It’s
been a growing experience for all of us.”
Clarke echoes White’s assessment. During
the set, he introduced the Return to Forever tune
“No Mystery” by saying that when he first put
the music in front of Hiromi, he didn’t expect her
to be able to play it. Much to his surprise, he told
the crowd, she sailed right through it. “She’s
young, and she has an incredible amount of technique,”
he says, adding that he knows now that
he can give her any piece of music. “But she’s
still learning how to play this music correctly
because there are so many subtleties that have to
be learned. I agree with Lenny, it’s great to play
with her because she asks questions. She knows
what she doesn’t know. That’s the sign of someone
who’s really intelligent about the music.”
As for her launch into “No Mystery,” Clarke
says that she’s getting into it. Still, he figures
she’s only mastered 80 percent so far. “She
makes mistakes every night,” he says, “but
they’re so fast you don’t hear them.”
“Working with Stanley and Lenny has been
an unbelievable experience,” Hiromi says. “It’s
like school—the best school you can find. Playing
with amazing musicians is the best way to learn.”
Does she know how she was chosen for
Clarke’s Jazz In The Garden project? No, and
she didn’t ask. Clarke says that enlisting her was
a combination of her being recommended both
by former Heads Up boss Dave Love and Corea.
“I wanted to do the trio album, and as I was
thinking about the pianist, I thought that I could
call a McCoy or Herbie,” he says. “But I thought
it would interesting to have Hiromi. She has the
facility on the piano that could give Lenny and
me the opportunity to explore.”
Clarke adds that he likes Hiromi’s spirited
energy. “She has a lot of joy,” he says. “She’s
genuinely happy to be out there with us, and
who wouldn’t be?”
Hiromi says that she’s always been passionate
about the music and playing the piano. Not even
the rude awakening of what life on the road was
like could deter that love. “I didn’t know about this
part of what it takes to be a musician,” she says.
“The amount of travel, sleeping in a different bed
every night. It’s hard. But we put ourselves
through this all for the magic time on the stage, so
we’d better enjoy it even if we feel exhausted.
When I go on stage, finally I can play; I can connect
with the audience to let them know how
happy I am. I feel so lucky. It’s like a miracle.” DB
March 2010 DOWNBEAT 35