I took a chance and bought a ticket to see “Piano Jazz Summit” concert featuring 3 piano soloists: Jacky Terrasson, Cedar Walton, and Hiromi. I love most aspects of Jazz until you get to the Free and Avante Garde stuff in the 60’s and that just turns me off since there is no clear melody or pattern but it turned out that I was wrong. 1st up was Jacky and all of his songs were filled energy, improvisation, bit of free styling, and variations of different songs such as “Over the Rainbow”. He did some weird antics while he was playing the piano such as grunting, using a napkin to clog the sound, and hitting the wooden frame of the piano (I never saw this much… abuse on a piano before) it got attention. 2nd was Cedar, the oldest of the three performers, and his songs were much more mellow and calm compared to Jacky. His music was more of the 40’s – 60’s where he played a medley of Thelonius Monk and his original songs – N.P.S. and Underground Memoirs. They were nice to hear but I couldn’t help but feel sleepy.
Finally, the last performance of the night. Hiromi just blew everyone away, right from the moment she played the piano with an explosion of sounds. Again I hear her personal sound effects and even more crazy movements and gestures than Jacky’s performance but they somehow fit within each song. Each of her songs was different and contained a mixture of jazz, classical music, and a bit of herself. The last song called Ue wo Muite Arukou/Sukiyaki (not the food), originally from an old song, roughly translates to “I look up as I walk” without tears falling as she described that while she did not have any medical background to help those in Japan, she did what she only knows best, play. She played her music to cheer them up and give them hope that it will get better. That final song tugged everyone’s heart and moved us that a few began crying. You can feel the love, hope, and encouragement contained in the song and I almost cried too! When it was over, we were all on our feet, cheering for her as well as the other 2 performers. And it just so happened that it was her birthday and we all sang the good ol’ “Happy Birthday” song.
After the concert, I looked up some of her songs on youtube since the CD I bought didn’t contain them. As I listened to them, it felt kind of off and different from the real thing I just saw 30 min. ago. There wasn’t that personal sound effect or the vibrations from the piano keys. The arrangements are different and the emotions of the performer are not as clearly present compared to seeing them in person. In a live show, I get to see how much fun they’re having as they play their creations for others, meeting with them, and sharing this experience with complete strangers who were there with you. It was a well worth $20 spent (with an additional $20 for CD – autographed) for a memorable night in the final months in college.
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