Hiromi at The Detroit Institute of Arts

Hiromi can’t be happier as she talks about her family’s actual “Green Tea Farm” in Shizuoka, Japan. “I’m not trying to push my family business on you. But green tea is very good for you,” she laughs before she starts the soothing song of the same name. Hiromi stayed mostly with material off of her newest album Place To Be, which attempt to create the various places the lifelong pianist has encountered to get to where she is today among jazz’s elite. Now 30, Hiromi did a few recital shows before she embarks on a long summer. The next few months will find Hiromi with an 18-show cross country tour with Stanly Clark, a stint at the Marciac Jazz Festival in Paris, and a residency at The Blue Note in New York.
Hiromi came to one of Detroit’s best places to be for art, as The Detroit Institute of Arts welcomed Hiromi to their cathedral style showroom, Kresge Court.

The late show of the evening kept with mostly songs from Hiromi’s latest, but also ventured to her first album with “Old castle, by the river, in the middle of the forest.” She joked before the song, saying a painting of the same name had inspired the song, so she just couldn’t bear to change the name.
A closing trio of songs showed Hiromi’s musical depth as it hopped styles and paces frantically. Hiromi’s Vegas suite featured three sections of 24-hours in the desert balm of Las Vegas. “Show city, Show girl” bounces from a playful jitter, spreading melodies as we stumble backstage through a seedy casino show. Sleek and slithering desert tappings gaze up at the circus that surrounds you churning from every angle. Slowly it bleeds into the sun stroked midday, which slows the playfulness into a crawl under the beating sun. A spinning klink of the lights and buzzes leads back into “The Gambler” and their resulting wins or loses with a suspenseful musical jackpot or bankruptcy. Frantic chases up and down the keyboard find Hiromi’s hands battling each other, tearing across the grand piano meandering the hotel maze as she throws her tiny frame into the gigantic piano. A light dancing around “The Tom and Jerry Theme” leaves Hiromi grinning ear to ear as she romps across her keys.

Her energy borderline summons Elaine Bene’s crazy legs, beaming in her seat, “limbs flailing, arms akimbo, feet kicking up dust…” Now, let’s not get things confused here, Elaine lacked any musical semblance, Hiromi’s musical voice exudes through every movement that went through body and out her fingertips into the piano. She plays with the reckless abandon like nobody is watching, having the time of her life, but still remains disciplined to execute her complex chases with beautiful precision. Her fingers and palms slam on the ivories as much as her elbows, as at one point in the night she reached inside the piano strumming and slapping the strings. Hiromi’s energy is contagious as she creates these vivid landscapes of sound with only her piano filling the entire room.
Hiromi has definitely found her place in jazz’s elite, and this summer will be yet another chance for her to showcase it to the world and continue to push herself. After showcasing what she can do with merely a grand piano, it will definitely be another task to see her with a full arsenal of keyboards.

by Pietro C. Truba

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