Hiromi Move

Move is Hiromi's second "Trio Project" recording with electric bassist Anthony Jackson and drummer Simon Phillips, and is a worthy follow-up to 2011's Voice. The pianist/composer defines the compositions on Move as mirroring an average day, starting with the title track, a choppy excursion that finds the trio connecting through a maze of twists and turns. "Brand New Day" is smoother than the previous track but doesn't lose any of the energy. Hiromi switches between piano and an analog synthesizer on "Endeavor," which, unfortunately, sounds like a novelty and cheapens the otherwise enjoyable composition. "Rainmaker" glides between fusion and post-bop. "Margarita!" is fun party funk. The final track, "11:49 PM," brings the day, and this very satisfying session, to its conclusion.

Winter Was Hard is a fairly typical early mélange type recording by Kronos, mixing in au courant contemporary fare with a downtown edge and 20th century classics. Of the former, John Zorn's "Forbidden Fruit" (originally available on his album Spillane) is the standout composition, one of the very best pieces he ever wrote in this idiom. Mixing the string quartet with turntablist Christian Marclay's wild thrashings and vocalist Ohta Hiromi's intensely erotic whisperings was an inspired move.