Hiromi © Andrea Canter

Dave Fiuczynski © Andrea Canter

True to her generation, Hiromi integrates elements of current rock and pop—always with an underlying foundation of high-flying improvisation: "I don't want to put a name on my music," she says. "Other people can put a name on what I do. It's just the union of what I've been listening to and what I've been learning. It has some elements of classical music, it has some rock, it has some jazz, but I don't want to give it a name."

Sonicbloom and Time Control

Each Hiromi recording offers a sonic feast highlighting the pianist’s far-flung compositional ideas, live, in-studio productions free of overdubs and multi-track wizardry, with the immediacy of in-the-moment improvisation. Hiromi’s partners on Brain and Sprial were her fellow Berklee alums Tony Grey (bass) and Martin Valihora (drums), who, despite their talents, often seem superfluous in the context of the pianist’s uncanny evocation of all three instruments on her own. The new release features the same band with the addition of fretless guitar star David Fiuczynski, the quartet’s name Sonicbloom an apt description of the expanded soundscapes that expand the electronic experiments of the earlier recordings.

Hiromi described the move from trio to quartet: “I always like taking risk in terms of finding something new - a new landscape that I've never seen. I decided to change the format of the band. I really need to break the triangle - in a good way - I needed somebody who would be a strong spice. I thought of Fuze [David Fiuczynski] because I had played with him on my first record and I felt a great chemistry with him... It's hard in terms of writing music because guitar and piano are two chordal instruments and it's so easy for them to sound messy together. I really had to learn when to shut up and when to play.”

Hiromi © Andrea Canter

Hiromi has always incorporated fusion concepts into her recordings and performances, but Time Control more directly embraces the meeting point of rock and jazz. The new recording is full of surprise, sudden bursts of energy and equally sudden bouts of lyricism; Fiuczynski is often an equal partner in directing and reshaping melody, while Grey and Valihora seem more essential to process.

Many of the characteristics that have marked Hiromi’s music to date are still present, reflecting a maturing approach to composition that merges classical simplicity with 21^st century complexity. The opening track, “Time Difference,” sets the stage for this merger—a composition of dual personalities, one dark and frenzied, one eerily lighthearted. Following a typical Hiromi introduction--an urgent piano vamp and electronic effects, heavy acoustic piano chords follow over a left-hand vamp, then followed by lighter phrases from the electronic keyboard. Other-worldly effects play between Hiromi’s syth and Fiuczynski’s guitar, while electric bass and drums establish an underlying pulse. One senses being transported to a time zone beyond imagination, two sides of the Galaxy, one familiar, one alien.

On “Time Out,” Fiuczynski and Hiromi blend as if two lobes of the same brain. The synthezier effects here are humorous, as if alien life forms engaged in bubbling conversation; the basslines from Grey are similarly playful. On acoustic piano, Hiromi evokes the blues with her trilling and intervallic climbs and descents that sometimes resemble the bubbling of a calliope, while Fiuczynsk’s guitar effects resemble vocalized passages. “Time Travel”, says Hiromi, is based on the idea that “Time travels back and forth. Even though it is not possible yet physically, you can make it happen with your mind.” After a melodic greeting from Fiuczynski, Hiromi joins in as electronic tones reverberate, Villahora’s staccato percussion figures adding to the energy. This one goes further into the galaxy, like worlds colliding. A late episode finds the guitarist in lyrical mode, with some of the most lush passages of the recording, slowing down time in the final measures.

Martin Valihora © Andrea Canter

“Take your time. Enjoy your space,” says Hiromi of “Time and Space.” This track features an edgy vamp and lots of space for the musicians to explore. Hiromi unleashes some beautiful piano passages that trade with space and time with edgy chords from bass and guitar, the various segments playing out like a mini-suite.

“Time Control… or controlled by time” addresses the age-old question, “are you controlling time in your day or are you controlled by time?” Both directions are explored, with a furious out-of-control groove alternating with laid-back segments where time seems endless. Fiuczynski seems exempt from the frenzy with relaxed melodic explorations, while the real control is exerted by Grey and Vilahora, the drummer crackling incessantly with repeating figures. Hiromi has a lovely interlude here, similar in sound and shape to earlier tracks where her lyricism overrides cleverness. She is prone to using similar devices across compositions but to good effect, and always in a new context, here building figures up the scale to a climax that introduces the next electronic adventure. Time speeds up, like a new age “Flight of the Bumblebee” or Bach on steroids.

“Time Flies,” notes Hiromi, “I want to feel every precious second of my life which you can miss very quickly.” The introductory verse combines an electronic whistling with acoustic piano, giving the track a folk/country feel. The initial vamp alternates with guitar before Fiuczynski assumes responsibility for continuing the more melodic drama. Hiromi follows, creating an intricate keyboard framework built on a blues voice. The finale, “Times’ Up” is a final joke lasting a mere 45 seconds, with oddball electronic wails over heavy piano chords, suddenly interrupted by a voiced “Times’ up!”

Fans of Hiromi’s previous trio recordings will either perceive Time Control as part of the natural progression of this inventive explorer, one born under the signs of rock and fusion as much as classical and jazz, or as a seismic shift toward that rock and fusion audience. Certainly the new quartet will pull in a more eclectic audience—always a healthy outcome for modern jazz. Hopefully the more conservative listener will appreciate the underlying classicism that remains at the core of Hiromi’s compositions, even as she extends her concepts of harmony, time and space, and how these elements interact in the cacophony of life in the 21^st century.

Hiromi and Sonicbloom tour the Midwest:

• June 15, 7:15 pm, Indy Jazz Fest, Indianapolis (www.indyjazzfest.net)

• June 17-19, 7 & 9 pm, Dakota Jazz Club, Minneapolis (www.dakotacooks.com)

• June 21, 8 pm, Ravinia Festival, Chicago, with the Joshua Redman Trio (www.ravinia.org)

More information about Hiromi and Sonicbloom available at www.hiromimusic.com