We are just catching our breath from another great series of concerts from Hiromi and The Trio Project. This time around Hiromi had long time collaborator Anthony Jackson playing contra-bass and drummer Steve Smith. Though Steve Smith may be most famously known as a former drummer of 70’s rockers, Journey, his jazz chops of which he has honed through the years with Vital Information among other gigs truly showed through as he held the foundation with Jackson for Hiromi’s explorations.
Trying to describe Hiromi’s music and performance can be a difficult one. Diving into so many different styles of music that often lead to great heights of imrpovisation it is often a mistake to consider Hiromi only as a jazz artist. It is true that her music comes from within and that she represents a real mélange of styles that found the adventurous pianist diving into classical, blues, avant garde and even doses of electronic music throughout her 4 shows she performed at the Dakota this week.
In all, the take away from these highly vibrant and electric performances was that this is music you really have to experience in person. To do so will leave you completely mesmerized with her talents and her knack of combining countless melodies and her acrobatic style of playing that had the packed house on the edge of their seats with their mouths open in awe.
A guest of ours, Jeff Peterson came down to see Hiromi and posted this wonderful drawing of Thursday’s nights show. What’s most impressive is the ability the artist here has in capturing Hiromi at the piano as she mostly does not sit still.
Thank you Hiromi!! You couldn’t come back to the Dakota soon enough!!