Hiromi Uehara's version of jazz is unique without being willfully
strange -- clearly deeply rooted in the straight-ahead jazz verities,
she nevertheless writes with a distinctly postmodern sensibility,
gleefully juxtaposing wildly disparate musical elements and infusing
everything with a joyful energy. In fact, joyful energy is probably the
most significant hallmark of her music; on her latest album, even her
attempt at a ballad eventually winds up in swinging uptempo territory,
and just about everything else either rushes headlong or rocks out
strongly in midtempo. This is actually something of a concept album
centered on the idea of time, the control of time, and the effects of
time on humans. It opens with the frantic but lovely "Time Difference,"
on which guest guitarist David "Fuze" Fiuczynski is given ample room to
rock out, and then lapses into the slower, funkier, but no less
energetic "Time Out" (an Uehara original, not the Dave Brubeck
standard). "Time Travel" starts out strong but runs out of gas about
halfway through its eight and a half minute length, but "Real Clock vs.
Body Clock = Jet Lag" is a real hoot -- a surf-rock theme that
alternates with a barrelhouse barroom piano theme and then becomes an
exercise in advanced guitar and synthesizer tonal insanity. One of the
most interesting things about this album is the way that Fiuczynski's
tonal experimentation draws out a similar adventurousness in Uehara, to
the extent that it's sometimes hard to tell which of them is playing a
solo. Several tracks on this album are several minutes too long, but
overall it's a real treat. You'll be tired at the end, but it will be a
good tired.
Rick Anderson
Tracklist :
1 Time Difference 6:19
2 Time Out 6:40
3 Time Travel 8:37
4 Deep Into The Night 9:02
5 Real Clock vs. Body Clock = Jet Lag 5:53
6 Time And Space 7:56
7 Time Control, Or Controlled By Time 8:29
8 Time Flies 8:01
9 Time's Up 0:47
10 Note From The Past (Bonus Track)
Credits
Bass – Tony Grey
Drums – Martin Valihora
Guitar – David Fiuczynski
Keyboards, Piano – Hiromi Uehara 
