I have to admit here right out of the gate that I’m pretty new to the world of Japanese jazz composer and keyboardist Hiromi Uehara. At some point last year, the YouTube algorithm decided to recommend to me her solo piano composition “The Tom and Jerry Show,” and I instantly became obsessed. However, like many YouTube recommendations, it allowed me a point of entry into her vast solo piano compositions, but for whatever reason, I couldn’t find a way into her combo-based music. Maybe I just got too wrapped up in the aural aesthetic of her solo piano work, or maybe I just got stuck. On April 4th of 2025, her newest album from her quartet Sonicwonderland, Out There, a 9-song jazz fusion masterpiece that clocks in at almost exactly an hour. On this crisp Sunday Seattle evening, less than two weeks after her newest album’s release, I gathered with an excited all-ages crowd at The Moore Theater to hear her and her virtuoso band breathe a different kind of life into her brand new Out There compositions.
Hiromi’s long and storied career is vast and impressive. She’s been consistently releasing music since 2003, and it has ranged from but has not been limited to solo piano efforts, albums, and tours with her jazz trio, her current offerings from quartet Sonicwonderland, and collaborating with other jazz legends such as Stanley Clarke & Chick Corea. If you think you’re unfamiliar, you may have accidentally caught her performing at the opening ceremonies of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. But it doesn’t stop there, recently she even composed all of the music for the Anime adaptation of the jazz-themed Manga series “Blue Giant”. It seems that being prolific is in her nature, and as the true artist she is, she is constantly moving forward, her eyes on the next prize.
The lights went down 7 minutes after the ticket time stated, and Hiromi and her band took the stage, which was an incredible breath of fresh air after rock bands consistently coming on half an hour after showtime or later. Wasting no time, she cued up the first song off the new album, “XYZ.” Hiromi’s compositions with Sonicwonderland often include multiple sections of dense melodic and rhythmic workouts that are at times difficult to fathom any band, no matter how well rehearsed, being able to pull off consistently each night. But they’re not just compositionally together; each time a new band member would get a chance to improvise a solo, they proved why they belong on that stage playing this music. In “XYZ,” Hiromi darted in and out of the creeping bass-heavy framework of her band, creating tension and release with her improvised solos and eliciting cheers from the audience when peaks were reached. At one point during her solo, she teased a bit of a Latin shuffle within the almost King Crimson and Zappa-esque framework before heading back into a long and frenzied build to an explosion of sound before returning to the song’s main form. An unreal way to start any show.
Without skipping a beat, the second song, “Utopia” (a song from Sonicwonderland’s first and self-titled album) began quietly with just solo piano before trading long improvised musical passages with Parisian bass extraordinaire Hadrien Feraud by way of LA. Eventually, this turned into a quiet and serene duet between the two virtuosos before the song’s main theme began and the rest of the band joined in. When trumpet player Adam O’Farrill entered playing muted trumpet, the song became reminiscent of Weather Report, Vince Guaraldi, and even Miles Davis. The structure of the song is impossible to know on first listen, the sense of melody, harmony, and solo construction too haunting and unique to put into words that could do the song justice. As the song’s improvisations came to an end, Hiromi began trading fours with Brooklyn-based trumpet player Adam O’Farrill, bringing the unplanned part of the song to a frenzied inflated peak before deflating, as if to exhale a deep sigh to signify the music’s satisfactory completion.
For the first time of the evening, Hiromi picked up the microphone, explained a bit about the evening’s program, and introduced the band. You may have come across a Grammy-winning drummer from Chicago by way of LA, Gene Coye, who is playing drums for Seal, Santana, or Robben Ford. Adam O’Farrill a composer in his own right on Trumpet once had the New York Times say “among the leading trumpeters in jazz- and perhaps the music’s next major improvisor.”
And last but certainly not least, Hadrien Feraud on bass. He’s played with the list of jazz legends too long to rattle off, but has had stand-out musical collaborations with Miles Davis alumni Chick Corea and John McLaughlin. Hiromi then introduced the next piece of music, a suite from their new album.
What followed was the centerpiece of the concert.
The “Suite: Out There” is a four-part suite consisting of “Takin’ Off”, “Strollin’”, “Orion”, and “The Quest”. The interplay between the musicians, extraordinary Gene playing a second larger, deeper snare drum for portions, applied a level of detail to the work that most drummers would overlook. Hiromi jumps between piano, electric piano, and synthesizers effortlessly to give each section distinction—O’Farrill trading fours with the keys. The entire band is dropping into different time signatures. Feraud’s bass parts move between Jaco Pastorius’ showmanship and quiet, understated passages required to hold the incredibly complicated music together. At one point during the third part of the suite “Orion”, Hiromi repeatedly played blues runs before playing a large atonal sweep of music before going back into her use of blue notes. The suite concluded with “The Quest” at times sounding like an 80’s movie with a rock band synth score, Hiromi channeled her inner George Duke before the band vamped on a “Packard Goose” Zappa like figure that the keys and trumpet traded fours over again, this time mimicking one another as they built to the songs radical conclusion. All in all, the suite lasted just about 45 minutes, which is just under thirty minutes front to back on the album, and it more than earned the 5 mins of standing ovation that followed.
Introduced as a song about her favorite food, Out There’s (as of this being written) lone single “Yes! Ramen!!” was a danceable and fun synth-driven way to conclude the set. As the lone melodic instrument on stage, O’Farrill showed great taste with his ability to know how not to overplay and, at times, stood on stage listening and waiting for his time to add to the stew. He rarely used his electric trumpet effects, but when he did, like in this set closer, he chose the right amount of spice and flavor to make the dish shine in all the right ways. Hiromi’s playing at times during the evening seemed otherworldly, putting strings of gigantic Herbie Hancock-inspired runs together where, while you’re hearing it, you have no idea how a lick could possibly go on for that long. “Mmm… noodles.”
After a brief encore break, Ms Uehara returned to the stage alone and played her solo piano effort titled “Pendulum,” explaining beforehand that it’s about life being difficult occasionally. She sucked the air out of the room as everyone stopped fidgeting and we sat quietly in awe of a gorgeous piece of music musing about the the difficult nature of life played by a single person on a solitary piano.
The band came back out on stage, and they partied through arguably the most joyous song on the album, “Balloon Pop.” Drummer Coye really shone here, taking an extended drum solo to close out the evening’s festivities.
Peaks and valleys, telling stories without words and painting giant abstract images without a single drop of paint—Hiromi’s Sonicwonderland is instrumental mile-a-minute excitement.
I will be there first in line the next time around. I can’t speak for everyone else who was there, but she made me a lifelong fan.
An unreal night of phenomenal musicians playing gorgeous music. Would do again.
