Hiromi & Edmar Castaneda - Live in Montreal

2025-04-06

Hiromi is one of my favorite pianists ever. She is so amazingly expressive and has a fantastic feel for what a song needs, which makes her a phenomenal improvisor. Edmar Castaneda was unknown to me until I heard this collaboration, but his harp playing is second to none and he takes jazz harp to a completely new place with a lot more intensity and wild improvisation than we are used to hearing on the instrument.

This album is supposedly centered around the work The Elements consisting of four parts, Air, Earth, Water and Fire, all of which are great, but especially Fire stands out with its latino/Cuban influences as a roller coaster of virtuosic and ferocious improvisation and tastefully composed sections. But in my opinion the duo also really shines in their funky tribute to Jaco Pastorius, For Jaco, and their take on the infamous Star Wars Cantina-band ragtime tune is not to be overlooked either.

It is worth taking the time to find and watch a few of Hiromi’s performances (Fire is linked below). Watching her play adds another dimension to her musicality. Rarely has a pianist moved as much and intensively as she does, and her signature hairdo is iconic at this point. Her joy in playing is very, very visible and contagious to the point of me just sitting there with a huge grin on my face just being happy to experience someone so obviously happy with what they do.

Listen

• For Jaco: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcUXWZWoCyY
• The Elements: Fire: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiBeeM0gg9g

Links

• Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/master/1253783-Hiromi-Edmar-Castaneda-Live-In-Montreal
• Bandcamp: https://hiromimusic.bandcamp.com/music
• Hiromi's website: https://www.hiromiuehara.com/
• Edmar Castaneda's website: https://www.edmarcastaneda.com/