Japanese jazz pianist Hiromi plays an amazing medley of jazz classics

I’ve been into piano for quite a long time, and really enjoyed the Japanese novel “Honey Bees and Distant Thunder” by Riku Onda where the story revolves around a series of skilled pianists attending a classical piano competition. (I reviewed in detail here)

I just came across an amazing performance by Japanese Jazz composer and pianist Hiromi, where she does an unbelievably frenetic melody of some big band classics, including pieces of Duke Ellington and Count Basie. After listening to all six minutes of it I felt both exhausted and at at the same time strangely inspired.

Seeing Hiromi like this makes me think she was probably the model for one of the characters of “Honey Bees and Distant Thunder”, but since I had read the book first I felt like I was literally watching a character who had just stepped out of a novel. Very surreal.

Anyway, if you want to take a quick break from Japanese studies definitely check this out!

(By the way, Hiromi in this video also reminds me of Juli Ueno from the great Japanese drama Nodame Cantabile).