Jazz pianist Hiromi Uehara is "a big fan of Frank Zappa"
Hoodoo
From the Nichi Bei Times Weekly June 1-6, 2006
By GREG YANO
Nichi Bei Times
http://www.nichibeitimes.com/issues/articles/060106/hiromi.html
Jazz pianist Hiromi Uehara has impressed audiences worldwide with her
original compositions and virtuoso technique. “Another Mind,” her
debut, won the Recording Industry of Japan’s Jazz Album of the Year in
2003. “Brain” (2004) scored even more accolades, including Swing
Journal’s New Star award and Jazz Life’s Gold Album.
Now with “Spiral” (2006), Hiromi’s latest release with Telarc in
January, the 26-year-old is once again proving that there’s a reason
her mentors are jazz legends Oscar Peterson, Ahmad Jamal and Chick
Corea.
Born in Shizuoka, Japan, Hiromi has been playing piano since she was
six. Her music draws from jazz, rock and avant-garde music. But Hiromi
won’t put a label on what she does. The freewheeling pianist would
rather let her music speak for itself.
The Nichi Bei Times recently caught up with Hiromi to talk about car
jingles, New York City, and the importance of always speaking up.
Nichi Bei Times: You wrote all the pieces on your last album. Can you
tell me about how you develop your songs?
Hiromi Uehara: It varies. Some tunes can be composed in a couple of
hours and some tunes take years. I always try to get the full
potential out of the songs…When I play on the live performances it’s
more of a momentum thing. But with composing I need to spend so much
time on one thing and try to make it better and better.
NBT: I hear that you listen to pretty much everything — jazz,
classical, rock, metal. What are you listening to right now?
HU: A lot of different things. Well, recently I’ve been listening to a
lot of Stevie Wonder.
NBT: What are you inspired by?
HU: I can be inspired by any great music. I just listen to many
different things. I’m a big fan of Frank Zappa…For him, music is
music. He doesn’t write, OK I’m writing rock music or I’m writing pop
music. He’s just writing what Frank Zappa is. And he’s playing Frank
Zappa. And that’s great.
[remainder of interview on the webpage]
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