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Brain | 
 enlarge | Artist: Hiromi
Label: Telarc
Category: Music
Buy New: $18.98
New (34) Used (16) from $4.97
Rating:  12 reviews
Sales Rank: 86406
Format: Live
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 83600
UPC: 089408360022
EAN: 0089408360022
ASIN: B00022FWOA
Release Date: May 25, 2004
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Tracks:
| • | Kung-Fu World Champion | | • | If... | | • | Wind Song | | • | Brain | | • | Desert on the Moon | | • | Green Tea Farm | | • | Keytalk | | • | Legend of the Purple Valley |
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| Similar Items:
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Among those artists currently reinventing the jazz piano trio--such as E.S.T. and The Bad Plus--Hiromi is rapidly moving to the forefront. A protege of Ahmad Jamal who played in duet with Chick Corea when she was 17, Hiromi's influences are very broad--Beethoven and Debussy somehow align with P-Funk. Part of her success lies in her skill with electronics, evident in the pulsing rhythmic overlays of "Kung-Fu World Champion" or the strange, calliope-like sound that announces the theme of "Brain." But it's her consummate piano playing that ties all of the threads together, whether it's the impressionist-flavored solo of "Green Tea Farm" or the bustling runs and charging interplay that she leads on "Desert of the Moon" with bassist Anthony Jackson and drummer Martin Valihora. Hiromi practices an art of surprise, touching on video-game tempos and Bill Evans harmonies as she arranges tradition and novelty in fresh configurations. --Stuart Broomer
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| Customer Reviews: Read 7 more reviews...
TASTEFULLY DONE April 22, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I have to wonder what the guy who wrote "But on musical taste I would file this between Weird Al Yancovich and Alvin and the Chimpunks" was listening to. Couldn't have been this CD. Granted, he is entitled to his opinion and I am no authority on jazz piano but I think he was being just a tad harsh. If she was THAT bad would a world renowned and respected musician such as Chick Corea invite her onstage to do some piano improvisations? Hmmm....maybe Chick's ears aren't what they used to be, or was someone holding a gun to his head?
I hear some really beautiful playing by Hiromi on this disc and the bassist and drummer lend excellent support. Maybe she pisses some people off because she mixes in some electronic keyboards and we all know how that ruffles some jazz purist's feathers. Well, then don't listen to Hiromi, God knows there's enough traditonal jazz out there for you. I think there's plenty of fine acoustic piano on this disc. Listen to it and make your own call. I've heard a helluva lot worse than this!
Me, I'm a fusion fanatic who saw Chick Corea's Return to Forever band 5 times, the Lenny White, Stanley Clarke and Al DiMeola version. I love progressive rock, metal, funk, and basically anything that sounds good to my ears. This sounds good to my ears. I also just caught Hiromi at the Blue Note Jazz Club on April 20 and loved it. Al Yancovich and Alvin and the Chimpunks were nowhere in sight! And last I heard they weren't getting the rave reviews Hiromi is getting. Go figure.
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 High energy, spunky and beautifully sensitive March 29, 2006
You get it all in this album, and from tune to tune, you may
be surprised at the variety of style Hiromi is capable of!
Her acoustic piano improv reflects many legendary greats, while
proving she has still developed her own style, not at all a
copycat. Her synth work will most obviously remind you of
Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea, but one again she has trans-
formed all she has learned into her own kind of music, and
it is fun, and definitely 21st century. We saw her live
in Hollywood in February, she was even more amazing than on
CD, had us on the edge of our seats!! A must, don't pass
any of her recordings up!!
 Well Executed, but extremely childish and corny, a sad joke of a concept February 2, 2006
8 out of 25 found this review helpful
Telarc, Yamaha Corp, and the easily fooled, uneducated critics, would have you believe that Hiromi is the next great genius of Piano Jazz. If you are easily impressed by fast notes and fusiony sounding riffs and gratuitous synth textures, then this music is for you. Enjoy it, America! But what I hear is a young , gussied up Japanese girl who obviously studied the piano in her youth, but hasn't a clue as to what jazz , composition, or improvisation is about. Perhaps my years of listening to Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, McCoy Tyner, and Keith Jarrett have spoiled me, but this chick is not even close. Don't try to make me out to be anti fusion, either. Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy by Return to Forever is my joint! Try A/B-ing any classic fusion record next to Hiromi. It's like comparing the Count Basie Orchestra to my middle school jazz band.
The improv sections on Brain , what few there are, are nothing more than jerky chromatic scalesand nebulous finger noodlings, with no regard to melodic or harmonic development. I've heard 10 year old kids play more meaningful phrases. Hiromi has fast fingers, but so do thousands of kids who graduate from music schools all over the place. Her compositions are more a collection of random notes, with no theme, no strong melodies, no direction, and no invention. It's bordering on a joke. I would laugh it it wasn't so sad.
Again, more power to you if you are one of the people who loves this CD. I can't force people to recognize the difference between this CD and Romantic Warrior, or Thrust, or Inner Mounting Flame, or any Oscar Peterson recording, or Kenny Kirkland, or Mulgrew Miller. And I don't insist that you can't make a meaningful CD without paying 20 or 30 years of dues. But you've got to have SOME dues just to give some depth to your music. Hiromi has the depth of a 5th grader screwing around with a Casio keyboard.
I wish I felt remorse in skewering a young girl who might one day develop into a better than average jazz musician. However, artist who get great acclaim with out actually being great usually don't feel the need to do any extra work, so she'll probably keep churning out poor excuses for fusion jazz Cds. And then she'll retire, just like Junko Onishi, another overhyped Japanese female pianist. Who I dig WAY more than Hiromi.
I do think the production is decent. The piano is well recorded, and the synths sound pretty fat. The rhythm section is decent. But on musical taste I would file this
between Weird Al Yancovich and Alvin and the Chimpunks. Maybe below, cause again it's a joke that doesn't make me laugh.
Wow September 14, 2005
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
For Desert on The Moon, this CD is worth its price doubled.
That said, every track is a unique pastel of brilliance; moreover, the quality of the disc brings out very minute details in Hiromi's playing. She might have toned her viruosity down from the last album, but did not play "dumber". Her playing only matured during the intermission. Now the virtuosity is channeled to more depict each composition's uniqueness.
The musicianship is top notch from all players; they meld together to create a musical masterpiece that no genre label could accurately suffice an apt description.
Keep it up Hiromi!
 Disappointing after 'Another Mind' May 20, 2005
7 out of 9 found this review helpful
In the year between 'Another Mind' and 'Brain', my guess is that Ms Uehara has been listening to an awful lot of Bob James' CDs -- probably around the 'Hands Down' era of the early 1980s. Maybe even a couple of Chick Corea LPs from the 1970s too. (The presence of Al DiMeola's bassist, Anthony Jackson, on three of the tracks confirm the direction Hiromi has chosen.) These influences are not for the good.
For an album sleeve that claims that Hiromi plays only the piano, it's surprising and depressing that there is so much synthesizer pervading many of the tracks. And it's not used to create the subtle tinges of a Lyle Mays, but the invasive, wonky sounds of Corea/James of a certain period. Maybe there's been too much pressure from her sponsor, Yamaha, to showcase the few new instruments they are now putting on the market.
Whatever the reasons, my advice to Hiromi would be unambiguous: Stick to the acoustic piano; you're wonderful at that. We really don't need a re-hash of synthetic 70s excesses such as Corea's 'The Leprechaun'.
My advice to Amazon buyers is to buy her earlier album first - 'Another Mind' is a delight.
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