Artist: Hiromi's Sonicwonder
Album: Sonicwonderland
Genre: Fusion
Label: Telarc
Released: 2023
Quality: FLAC (tracks+.cue)
Tracklist:
- Wanted (7:15)
- Sonicwonderland (8:17)
- Polaris (10:05)
- Go Go (7:06)
- Up (9:00)
- Reminiscence (feat. Oli Rockberger) (6:27)
- Trial and Error (7:24)
- Utopia (7:19)
- Bonus Stage (5:11)
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- Personnel:
- Hiromi Uehara - piano, keyboards
- Hadrien Feraud - bass
- Adam O'Farrill - trumpet
- Gene Coye - drums
- Oli Rockberger - vocals (#6)
When Hiromi Uehara conceived the groove-heavy Sonicwonderland, she understood that she needed a band specifically built for the project. She recruited French bassist Hadrien Feraud, trumpeter Adam O'Farrill, and drummer Gene Coye for Hiromi's Sonicwonder. For Uehara, it reveals another dimension in her musical identity. Since 2003, she's recorded in many different configurations: solo, trio, quartet, with a string quartet, and more. Here, she plays a Nord Lead A1 analog synth and a Nord Electro 5D electric/acoustic piano.
Opener "Wanted" is a breezy contemporary jazz number that recalls the '70s CTI work of Bob James. O'Farrill's trumpet fills out the graceful lyric before embarking on a lithe solo atop an airy funk backbeat from the drummer and a lyrical bassline; he delivers a soulful thematic articulation amid lush piano harmonies courtesy of Uehara before her tight, bumping solo. "Polaris" is an elegant ballad that threads together classical crossover, instrumental pop, and contemporary post-bop. Uehara's piano harmonies are lush and poignant buoying O'Farrill's thematic statement. On "Go Go," Feraud and Coye state the vamp, then Uehara layers in striated synth and organ piano lines before breaking the frame. She solos atop rhythmic syncopation, spiky jazz-funk, and speculative, bluesy post-bop. The title track is every bit as prophetic as Herbie Hancock's "Chameleon" from Head Hunters, albeit in a different way. The jagged synth sequence introduces the tune's melody. Feraud and Coye layer in jazz-funk as O'Farrill's trumpet lines intersect bebop and 21st century soul-jazz. "Reminiscence" is a tender Celtic-tinged vocal ballad composed with and sung by Grammy-winning singer/songwriter Oli Rockberger. The introductory segment of "Trial and Error" suggests the mid-'70s influence of Weather Report. Feraud's bumping, carnivalesque (à la Brazil) bassline sets up O'Farrill's swinging theme. Uehara's synths approximate the sound of a steel pan drum atop rigorously breaking snares. Midway, however, the song dissolves into conversational group improvisation before asserting a lush melody framed by Feraud and Uehara. O'Farrill's layered trumpet offers transcendent crescendos and introduces Uehara's synth solo before the piano returns with the original progression. Closer "Bonus Stage" combines the flavors of 21st century electronica, early New Orleans jazz, Frank Zappa, 1930s-era swing, and the fluid funk of the '80s.
Sonicwonderland sounds like the album Hiromi had to cut at this juncture in her career. While it sounds markedly different from other titles in her discography, its restless creativity, canny compositions, open, polished, breezy production, and the high level of instinctive communication within this jazz band place this set in a league of its own.
Review by Thom Jurek