Review Summary: Home at last
Being alone with your favorite instrument can be quite intimidating. You have no place to hide, no ensemble to hide behind, and no one to turn to when you slip up. It’s just you, your current skill level, and the musical vessel awaiting your command. And as someone who spent most of his formative years in the recital hall, I know firsthand how daunting this can be. Everyone in the crowd is watching, waiting with bated breath; not only do you have to play flawlessly, but you have to try and make the performance your
own as well. Offering your own flair, your own interpretation, yet still lingering within the margins of what the music demands.
And this is what makes Hiromi Uehara so fascinating to me. On a technical level, she’s clearly up there with the modern piano greats; she flawlessly juggles jazz and classical stylings, while still incorporating just the right amount of atmosphere and melody into her pieces. But what stands out most to me isn’t her skill… it’s her
demeanor. When she’s up on stage, doing what she does best, it’s almost as if the crowd doesn’t even exist. She has the biggest grin on her face and gets completely lost in the music… or, as demonstrated by the duets with her late mentor Chick Corea (yes, THAT Chick Corea), she gets lost in the musical “conversations” she has with others. She can be in any setting – solo, trio, full ensemble, whatever – and she’ll have the confidence and charm to ace it.
Most of Hiromi’s discography up to this point has involved
some type of ensemble work though – whether it’s with the Trio Project or the backing musicians who play on several of her solo records – so it’s nice to hear her completely alone in her element on 2009’s
Place to Be. This is simply a no-frills piano album: no bass, no drums, nothing but the ivories. Yet the finished product is no less diverse than her other work, as the tracklist ranges from the nimblest of barnburners to the quietest of ballads. For the former, you’ve got scorchers such as “BQE”, “Bern Baby Bern”, and “Viva! Vegas: The Gambler”, tracks that will give you Carpal Tunnel Syndrome simply by listening to them. On the latter side, you’ve got beautifully constructed pieces such as “Somewhere”, “Viva! Vegas: Daytime in Las Vegas”, and the title track, all of which lend a more sentimental vibe to the record.
There isn’t really a central focus to
Place to Be, but there are a few returning motifs and themes that string the project together. I’ve already mentioned two of the “Vegas” tracks, but they’re actually part of a whole
trilogy of pieces near the end of the record – all meant to recreate different moods and vibes you could find in the titular city. The first is an extremely showy piece that serves to introduce the listener to all the glitz and glamor of Las Vegas; the second is a gentle, sedate number that reflects a calm afternoon in the city; and the finale is a chaotic off-the-rails simulation of casino nightlife. With these pieces, Hiromi demonstrates her ability to tell a story or narrative simply through the music alone – no lyrics needed. The record also has a few “interpretations”, so to speak; the most notable of which being a jazzed-up version of the (in)famous Pachelbel’s Canon. Let’s be honest though: Pachelbel’s Canon had already been covered and parodied to death, even by 2009. And sadly, Hiromi’s version is not quite interesting enough to change that.
Admittedly, your enjoyment of
Place to Be will largely depend on how long you can enjoy (or tolerate) solo piano music. After all, we’ve got a solid hour+ of music to digest here. Thankfully, as I mentioned before, Hiromi at least does her best to make the tracklist consistently interesting throughout. Any time the project threatens to be derailed with nonstop over-the-top piano wank, she’ll throw in a lovely ballad as a palate cleanser. Any time the music gets a little too sleepy, she’ll throw in her quirky little chromatic solos to spice things up a bit. Better yet, she saves the absolute best for last: the title track. Imagine if Studio Ghibli crossed paths with Final Fantasy and added a little jazz into the mix, and you’ll have an idea of what this gorgeous ballad has to offer. And after such an eventful trilogy like “Vegas”, it serves as a perfect comedown to close out the experience.
More than anything,
Place to Be reaffirms one very powerful sentiment: if you have the confidence and conviction to perform alone, you don’t need an ensemble propping you up. With just a piano, Hiromi is able to deliver the same technical prowess and emotional gravitas that she could with a full band. Hell… if anything, the ballads actually benefit
more from the intimacy of one singular instrument. And this is not to take anything away from her backing musicians over the years: players like Simon Phillips and Anthony Jackson (R.I.P.) are absolute world-class performers. But I like to think
Place to Be is Hiromi’s way of proclaiming that she can still blow people’s minds without any outside help. If that was the mission, she certainly succeeded.
