"add half a beat so audience stays in time"

May 6, 2022 7:17 AM

A delightful performance of Canon in D by Hiromi Uehara that keeps getting jazzier as it progresses, with an inline transcription following the whole way.

(a.k.a. jäzz)

posted by a faithful sock (36 comments total)

"Place metal ruler over treble range strings" ok, you've got me. I'm in.
posted by mhoye at 7:25 AM on May 6, 2022 [2 favorites]

And I'll be damned if that doesn't just turn half the piano into a harpsichord.
posted by CaseyB at 7:40 AM on May 6, 2022 [4 favorites]

Harry Connick Jr. adds a whole beat here. Friends don't let friends clap on the 1 and 3 (same Youtube account.)
posted by emelenjr at 7:42 AM on May 6, 2022 [5 favorites]

I’ve seen Hiromi play a few times when she has been passing through my city and it never fails to bring me the utmost joy.

Can’t help but share the YouTube video that first made me aware of her.
posted by Probabilitics at 7:43 AM on May 6, 2022 [3 favorites]

I noticed the 5/4 trick too. Superb. There's a more detailed explanation of that here.
posted by JoeZydeco at 7:48 AM on May 6, 2022 [1 favorite]

There's so much delightful stuff here I don't even know where to start. It's all great, really. Watching a performer really having fun and getting into a performance is a delight.

The run-up at measure 104 is a ton of fun, and it really took me by surprise for some reason. Her ability to jump in and out of swing is wonderful, and the absolute tonal consistency of all those 32nd notes near the end is incredible, to me.

I don't play any of the instruments I play with anything even approaching this kind of skill and fluidity, but to me this is what it feels like to enter a flow state while I'm playing. For me, it's like being really stoned, where time and space collapse and you're just there. That's what this felt like to me.

Thanks for posting this!
posted by uncleozzy at 7:51 AM on May 6, 2022 [6 favorites]

Harry Connick Jr. adds a whole beat here

That coy look over at the drummer who's shaking his fists in the air a moment later though. He knew it was coming.
posted by mhoye at 7:55 AM on May 6, 2022 [1 favorite]

For those unfamiliar with Hiromi Uehara, may I also present this rocking companion piece: The Tom and Jerry Show
posted by bigendian at 7:56 AM on May 6, 2022 [7 favorites]

Metafilter: continue with random sloppy clusters
posted by vverse23 at 8:08 AM on May 6, 2022 [9 favorites]

Metafilter: continue with random sloppy clusters

I came in to post exactly that.
posted by Gelatin at 8:24 AM on May 6, 2022 [1 favorite]

at 7:22, "gradually add more wrong notes (a.k.a. jazz)"
:)
posted by martin q blank at 8:35 AM on May 6, 2022 [3 favorites]

may I also present this rocking companion piece: The Tom and Jerry Show

Second comment on that (amazing) video: "This was our wedding song. Always makes me cry."
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:55 AM on May 6, 2022 [2 favorites]

Man, Uehara is so joyful. Love it.
posted by Quasirandom at 9:33 AM on May 6, 2022 [6 favorites]

I don't play any of the instruments I play with anything even approaching this kind of skill and fluidity

I have never done anything ever with anything even approaching this kind of skill and fluidity.
posted by Rock Steady at 9:43 AM on May 6, 2022 [8 favorites]

I went looking for more Hiromi and landed on Live in Montreal by Hiromi & Edmar Castaneda. Going down this rabbit hole is going to take a while.
posted by kingless at 10:53 AM on May 6, 2022 [2 favorites]

There is so much joy and musical history packed into this I can barely stand it.
posted by lumpenprole at 11:03 AM on May 6, 2022 [1 favorite]

That Tom and Jerry performance also has a George Collier transcription that makes it even more fun to follow along with.
posted by straight at 11:17 AM on May 6, 2022 [2 favorites]

black midi, indeed. Wow.
posted by JoeZydeco at 12:07 PM on May 6, 2022

This is a terrific post with excellent comments. Thanks!
posted by theora55 at 12:23 PM on May 6, 2022

Delightful!
posted by evilmomlady at 12:31 PM on May 6, 2022

I love the Canon in D. I do not love jazz. However, I love people messing around with the Canon in D, especially when it ends up involving jazz. Don't ask me why, I don't know.

This is nothing short of fantastic.
posted by lhauser at 12:42 PM on May 6, 2022 [6 favorites]

MetaFilter: gradually add more wrong notes (a.k.a. jäzz)
posted by The Bellman at 12:55 PM on May 6, 2022 [2 favorites]

By the way, I went to school with ol' Sloppy Clusters. A good guy, if not the tidiest.
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:03 PM on May 6, 2022 [2 favorites]

That Tom and Jerry performance also has a George Collier transcription

Summon the jazz gods!
posted by Quasirandom at 3:29 PM on May 6, 2022

I had never heard of Hiromi before, I just found this Rhapsody in Blue collaboration she did with a utterly fantastic tap dancer.

I'm going to be listening to her/watching her videos all night.

The transcriptions are fun too, but finding her tonight was a treat.
posted by Hactar at 4:55 PM on May 6, 2022 [2 favorites]

I know everyone calls him a one hit wonder, but the Pach is just so underrated, man. You have got to hear the album he did back in '99, Hexachordum Apollnis, you're not gonna hear theme and variations like that until 'Big Daddy' Johnny Bach.
posted by dannyboybell at 5:24 PM on May 6, 2022 [3 favorites]

She’s in destroy all Jazz and Modern classical music mode, a couple decades late. Century late. While abusing the harpsichord to the point where it couldn’t carry a tune. The grand piano will literally explode and kill you if not properly tuned if you mess with it like that, except the guts of such a beast are a few tons of heavy metal stretched juuuust to the breaking point. To actually reach the breaking point requires heavy infantry or air strikes. The upright honky-tonk piano L.L. Cool J was pounding on in his MTV Unplugged was not harmless, but he respected the instrument and survived.

I am completely over artists who shit on other artists and their genres for cheap thrills. It’s not new. It’s not clever. It’s recycling the recycled. Make. Something. New.

She’s not even close to Victor Borgia in terms of wit, and he was a much more serious musician as in evidence, with a lot of respect for the source material and music in general.
posted by Slap*Happy at 8:29 PM on May 6, 2022

Somebody needs a nap.
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:24 PM on May 6, 2022 [8 favorites]

Are you trying to evaluate her work based on one or two videos? She has been recording and performing for two decades, is very highly regarded by other jazz musicians, and I don't even know where to begin with the comparison to Victor Borge.
posted by vverse23 at 9:36 PM on May 6, 2022 [4 favorites]

is very highly regarded by other jazz musicians

For real, she has a duet album with Chick Corea.
posted by juv3nal at 2:55 AM on May 7, 2022

Metafilter: fat cluster smash!
(7:28)
posted by secretseasons at 4:57 AM on May 7, 2022

I am completely over artists who shit on other artists and their genres for cheap thrills

Jesus christ, you win the award for "most comically out of proportion reaction to lighthearted MeFi post".

Thanks for reminding me why I'd stopped making posts to the blue years back. I'll remember to not make this mistake again.
posted by a faithful sock at 5:01 AM on May 7, 2022 [2 favorites]

This was a great post! I really enjoyed the video. Please don’t let negative comments get you down too much, and I hope you post again.
posted by adrianhon at 6:23 AM on May 7, 2022 [7 favorites]

Lovely. I really enjoyed this.

However, a recent comment has me concerned for the artist's safety, as pianos are apparently explosive when played like this. Perhaps she should consider the flute?
posted by dsword at 9:03 AM on May 7, 2022 [1 favorite]

So I'll bite: what's the deal with the metal ruler?

(I enjoyed her playing otherwise, to be clear. Also I know nothing about jazz. I do know what a harpsichord sounds like, but that's not it.)
posted by splitpeasoup at 9:08 AM on May 7, 2022

metal rulers are nothing compared to this John Cage composition (stick with it until 0:27 for a closeup of inside the piano) or this performance from Blair McMillen played with two baseballs (one evenutally resting on the strings) and a baseball glove.
posted by martin q blank at 9:30 AM on May 7, 2022 [1 favorite]