New Hiromi's Sonicbloom album "Beyond Standard"

[Kyo]

I'm a huge Hiromi nut, so please bear with me if this sounds like a press release.

I had to compile this information from several sites (some in Japanese) myself.

The new album from Hiromi's Sonicbloom is called Beyond Standard - here's the cover art:

As indicated by its title, the new album features several popular tunes and

jazz standards reworked to fit the sound of Hiromi's Sonicbloom. As on the band's

last album Time Control, once again Hiromi's trio with Tony Grey (bass) and

Martin Valihora (drums) is joinedby the very unique guitarist Dave Fiuczynski.

Here's the track listing:

1. Intro: Softly, as in a morning sunrise

2. Softly, as in a morning sunrise

3. Clair de lune (Claude Debussy)

4. Caravan

5. Ue O Muite Aruko (a Japanese folk song, also known as "The Sukiyaki Song")

6. My Favorite Things

7. Led Boots (from Jeff Beck's "Wired")

8. XYG

9. I Got Rhythm

10. Return of Kung-Fu World Champion (Japanese bonus track) *

* recorded live in December 2007 at the International Forum

And yes, according to bassist Tony Grey XYG is a reworking of XYZ from Hiromi's debut CD.

I wonder if the G stands for guitar as Dave Fiuczynski didn't play on the original trio version.

I expect I Got Rhythm to be a solo piano performance as it was at recent live shows.

There will also be a two disc Limited Edition with a bonus DVD,

this time (it's the third Hiromi bonus DVD - why don't they just

release a full-blown concert DVD of her band?) it will feature

the songs "Time Difference" and "Deep Into The Night."

The album will be released on May 28 in Japan and June 10 in the US,

I guess the European release date will be close to the American one.

Edited April 30, 2008 by Kyo

[Kyo]

There's a short sample up at

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?saId=89289435

But it's not exactly the most exciting excerpt from the CD, I guess...

Btw, it seems like it will be released in Germany first - this Friday!

[Kyo]

Btw, it seems like it will be released in Germany first - this Friday!

I was sceptical about this at first and a short delay didn't help, but today

I did indeed find a copy of the album in a local store. Will post some

impressions later. Also got the new album by Hiromi bassist Tony Grey

today and I gotta say so far I prefer the Grey album (quite a bit, even).

[lalex]

Here is a place to hear samples of all of the tracks, my fave German CD store, jpc:

http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/jazz/detail/-/hnum/6665890

Larry

San Diego