Why do we do what we do for a living? To put a roof over our heads? To please our parents or friends? To just occupy time? Some people see their life’s work as a goal. For 30 year old Hiromi Uehara, her many completed projects are more of a byproduct of a larger quest; the desire to increase in knowledge and wisdom.
Over the past year-plus, Hiromi has recorded a collaboration of duets with Chick Corea (“Duets”/Concord), a trio under the leadership of Stanley Clarke (“Jazz In The Garden”/Heads Up), two different in concert dvds (Hiromi Live In Concert with the trio and Hiromi’s Sonicbloom Live In Concert with her quartet) as well as her own studio quartet Beyond Standard. She doesn’t see these projects, however, as goals, but more as catalysts for her continued search for education and knowledge.
Her meeting with Corea came about simply be God’s providence, and Hiromi took the entire episode as an important tutorial chapter in her life. “It was amazing,” she recalls. “Every minute of it was a learning experience. I felt really lucky to be playing with him. I met him when I was 17. I was studying in Tokyo with a music teacher, and I found out that Chick was in the same building rehearsing for a concert. So, I just went upstairs and went to say hello. I introduced myself, and he kindly asked me, “What do you play?” So, I told him I play the piano. He said, “Play me something!” So, I played a piece for him. He told me that he had a concert the next day and asked me if I was available to play one song with him. So I went the next day and played a song with him. That’s how I met him. It was a free improvisation.” As the saying goes, “luck” is when opportunity meets with preparation.
The young lady impressed the iconic jazz pianist, as Hiromi relates, “In 2006 we played at the Toyko Jazz Festival, and he said, “Let’s make an album. We can do a lot of live shows next year if we record it.” We then just met a day before, decided which tunes we’ll do, and just played. No rehearsing. The project with Chick is almost all really free and improvised, so it has to be like that. There’s no other way to do it. I had to be really listening to what he’s playing at the moment, and then try to pull out everything I had to answer what he was saying to me.”
After that experience, she had the fortune to come into contact with another alumnus from Return to Forever, bassist Stanley Clarke. Concerning the bassist’s latest album, Hiromi recollects, “Stanley contacted me, and he said he’s thinking of recording an acoustic trio album, and he wanted to do with me and Lenny White.”
Hiromi looks at this dream come true opportunity not as another notch on the Curriculum Vitae, but as another step in her educational sojourn. “Everything is a new experience, and playing with people like Stanley Clarke and Lenny White was amazing. I learned so many things from them. I felt fortunate to be part of it. It’s hard to put into words what I learn from them; that’s why I play music! Everything I learn I try to put into my music somehow. I feel like I’m growing as a musician when I play with them. I just live and I earn every day. Everything I do is a learning experience. Not only when I play, but when I’m with someone and talk to someone who’s really experienced and knowledgeable. You can learn so many things from them. That’s how people grow.”
After all of these various group projects and collaborations, Hiromi decided to release her first solo recording (Place To Be/Heads Up). Even this project was a chapter in her educational process, as she explains, “I’m 30. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to do a piano solo album. I really wanted to stand alone with the piano. Being 30 is kind of a marker, and I wanted to record my solo album before I got to 30 so I could archive the sound of my 20s. I recorded the album the week before I became 30. Then, when I thought about what I could record, when I look back into my twenties, it was filled with troubles, and I thought that it would be interesting to write about that journey and finding the place where I’d be.”
The whole experience of returning to a solo acoustic piano, after leading an electric group like Sonicbloom, was quite enlightening to Hiromi as well. “It’s very different. It’s much more risky, and I have the whole responsibility on my shoulders. If I stop playing, it’s dead silent. Nobody else is playing. If the boat is sinking, unless I fix the boat, I’m going down, as there’s no one else to help.”
Hiromi is attracted to these types of challenges, admitting, “The risk is huge; that’s why it’s very adventurous, and I really enjoy that risk. I have to be creative in different ways every single day, because I don’t like playing the same way every night. I don’t have 3 or 4 brains (of other musicians) to make new music. I only have one brain, so it’s hard, but it’s good to really maximize your brain and try to use it to the max.”
As with all musical pilgrims, Hiromi searches for the ability to grow with each new project. This is a key to her talent, as when one searches for learning, wisdom and truth in every part of life, the outcome of her pursuit is a richer musical craft. She points out, “Sometimes I feel that when I’m playing that I have to keep finding a new door in music. It is not easy, but I enjoy the challenge. Also, the greatest thing is that I love my instrument. It’s such a beautiful instrument, and I haven’t played only acoustic for many years. I’ve played acoustic piano with my band, but it’s always amplified. Finally, I can feel it’s mood, and when I play in a big concert hall, I don’t mic it. It’s amazing to feel the detail of the piano sound, and enjoy every bit of the instrument that I love.”
Considering each of her many musical projects as a path to wisdom, Hiromi follows the ageless council that eludes many an artist, “Acquire wisdom; and with all acquiring, get understanding. Prize her, and she will exalt you.” Through her varied career with her own groups, with superstars like Corea and Clarke, and even when performing by herself, she has taken these fruitful episodes as parts of her continuous path to a greater calling. Catch her next time in town, check out the new disc, and maybe you can learn something new as well!