Hiromi & Edmar Castañeda at Miner Auditorium, November 16, 2017

SFJAZZ presents Pure Energy Hiromi: Solo & Duo featuring Edmar Castañeda
Robert M. Miner Auditorium
SFJAZZ Center, 205 Franklin St, San Francisco, CA 94102 USA
7:30 PM, Thursday, November 16, 2017

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2017 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2017 event list! ☸ On to the next event!

[7:32 PM lights down, house announcements, Hiromi out]

1. [7:32 PM] BQE
2. [7:41 PM] Place to Be
   [banter]
3. [7:52 PM] Brain Training
4. [7:59 PM] ?
5. [8:09 PM] I Got Rhythm
   [set ends 8:20 PM]

[8:39 PM lights down, announcements, band out]

1. [8:39 PM] A Harp in New York
   [Hiromi introduces her Elements suite]
2. [8:52 PM] Air
3. [8:59 PM] Earth
4. [9:06 PM] Water
5. [9:15 PM] Fire
   [set ends 9:30 PM]
    
   Encore
6. [9:32 PM] ?
   [show ends 9:40 PM]

• Edmar Castañeda: Andean harp;
• Hiromi Uehara: piano.

It's always a treat to see Hiromi, and tonight's show was no exception. I was really glad to see her performing solo again – nothing against the trio shows of the past few years – but she's talented enough to grab my attention completely, so why bother with any diversions?

I Got Rhythm was infectiously fun, and included plenty of teases of other tunes, most notably, a brief jaunt into a Scott Joplin rag. Wow!

You might guess from my intro that I would be disappointed with the duo set that followed, but you'd be completely wrong. About my only complaint with that part of the show was that it was too loud: both the piano and harp were incredibly loud … enough that when Edmar slapped his bass harp strings I felt a shot in my chest from the pressure wave. Heavy metal jazz, anyone?

Anyways, despite that quibble, I thought the second set was darn good. Edmar Castañeda is a virtuouso of Hiromi's calibre, and to watch and hear them interacting and enjoying themselves was truly special.

Big thanks to Ting for the photo gallery!

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2017 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2017 event list! ☸ On to the next event!