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    Celebrity

    Hiromi: Tiny Desk Concert



    Suraya Mohamed | September 8, 2023
    Hiromi arrived at NPR wearing comfortable sweats, her chic hair already styled and perfectly coiffed for the performance. A keyboard gig bag was strapped on her back with her Nord Lead A1 analog modeling synthesizer, a versatile instrument loaded with her programmed patches. Its buzzy, modular sound started the show with a funky melodic line that sets up this highly energetic and joyful set.

    Just before this performance, she and her band “Hiromi’s Sonicwonder” had just finished recording their soon to be released new album, Sonicwonderland. They perform two songs from that project here, and each one is its own auditory adventure, filled with sophisticated arrangements and lush textures. Adam O’Farrill’s trumpet playing is exquisite, as he sometimes routes his horn sound through pedals to create an ethereal tone. Hadrien Feraud thumps his bass lines with precision and grit as he locks in really tight with Gene Coye’s crisp and momentous drum performance.

    You can see how much fun Hiromi is having here, her beautiful smile beams as she rips her small but strong hands up and down multiple keyboards. She moves seamlessly between the three instruments, sometimes standing, sometimes sitting, sometimes dancing — always breathtaking. Her whole body generates an observable power that’s also playful and virtuosic. She plays with great command but yet she is also at ease, as her notes ripple from her fingertips like streams of water.

    SET LIST
    “Sonicwonderland”
    “Wanted”

    MUSICIANS
    “Hiromi’s Sonicwonder”
    Hiromi Uehara: piano, keys
    Adam O’Farrill: trumpet
    Gene Coye: drums
    Hadrien Feraud: bass

    TINY DESK TEAM
    Producer: Suraya Mohamed
    Director/Editor: Maia Stern
    Audio Engineer: Josh Rogosin
    Creative Director: Bob Boilen
    Series Producer: Bobby Carter
    Videographers: Maia Stern, Alanté Serene, Joshua Bryant
    Audio Assistant: Kwesi Lee
    Production Assistant: Ashley Pointer
    Photographer: Catie Dull
    Tiny Desk Team: Kara Frame, Hazel Cills
    VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins
    Senior VP, Programming: Anya Grundmann

    #hiromi #nprmusic #tinydesk

    View 27 Comments

    27 Comments

    5. Roberto Fuentealba on

      I hope many more people can find out about Hiromi Uehara through this! She has been insanely good for so long but still every time i watch her performing she has that smile on her face. Love her!

    6. MHL75 on

      And of course, again, her musicians cannot stop looking at her while she plays…. every band she's had it has been the same… I love her.

    10. Just your average Human being on

      the best thing about her is how after finishing the first song, she immediately points to the rest of the musicians. She knows people are here for her, but she's here to have fun, and everyone including the other band members deserve attention 🙂
      they all did a PHENOMENAL JOB, like seriously. Insane.

    19. Brian Borges on

      Again,…thank you Tiny Desk for bringing the best of the world's music to us! I, like many, first saw Hiromi's Canon in D on YT, which was just, umm, Phantasmagorical?! This is completely different, but still spectacular! Most modern jazz gets too inside its own head. In theory, it's brilliant, but who the heck knows? To be forward and accessible is a true Jazz talent. That trumpet player has some serious nuance! (My fave Disney soundtrack is still The Jungle Book.😅) Hiromi, for being amazing…. Domo!💕 (Umm… How the heck did they get a baby grand behind the Tiny Desk?!🤔😄)

    21. daniel eduardo Lay on

      Genial!!! En Argentina,los que tenemos ya unos añitos decimos (decíamos…) que alguien muy bueno en lo suyo es "copado" ,término que tambien se utilizaba cuando se notaba que uno o alguien mas,estaba muy entusiasmado con lo que hacá,abstracción que nace del entusiasmo y el amor por lo que estás desarrollando,en el área que sea.Cuando Hiromi se "copa" transmite esa energía al que la escucha y la ve…Maravillosa interpretación con excelencia musical por parte de todos! Gracias!

    22. ooshwiggity on

      I said, "tiny desk, give me some dopamine" and this video jumped to the top of my suggested tiny desk videos. 100% exactly what i needed. Im not a huge jazz fan, but i might now be a huge Hiromi fan. Thank you for this, tiny desk

    23. Daniel Shade on

      I wonder if they spent much time learning their instruments and writing or if it’s just putting together samples that makes musical journeys like this so mystifying and entertaining and informative and mood inducing and inspiring and hanging on the and off the and wholly indifferent of any edge’s anywhere. That’s what I wonder.

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