Hitomi Nishiyama Trio "Parallax": Live

Apr 06, 2018

This 2016 album simply entitled Live from Hitomi Nishiyama’s Parallax piano trio marks 10 years since her label debut Cubium in 2006. With various projects and albums released under her name, this is the third release for her Parallax group, an edgier, groovier, and rhythmically-energized jazz piano trio.

Recorded live over two nights at the Creole jazz bar in Kobe, the eight songs feature her original compositions plus a rearranged “My Favorite Things”, with a new pulse and layers added to the popular standard.

As always, Nishiyama’s music is graced with a flowing elegance and creativity, displaying elements of European jazz with a searching, driving melodic sense. The listener is treated to odd time signatures, up-tempo jazz, elegiac ballads, some soul and rock structures, all framed in an in-the-moment live jazz setting.

As complex as the compositions may be, the recorded-live aspect brings tangible energy with a raw edge to the extended songs, and also shines a spotlight on the trio’s cohesiveness and ability to respond to each other in the moment, making music as a unit, three minds in parallel.