Miki Hayama: Prelude to a Kiss

Thu, 09 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Jazz pianist Miki Hayama’s 2006 album Prelude to a Kiss features beautiful piano jazz improvisation over smart compositions with a solid jazz trio, straightforward and serious modern jazz. This album, her second as leader, received a 5-start rating from the Japanese jazz magazine Swing Journal.

While the album cover art and title present a gently elegant mood, the music does not shy away from stimulating energy. The ten tracks cover an equal amount of original compositions and rearranged jazz covers (“Beatrice”, “I Love You”, “Skylark”, “Whose Shoes”, and “Prelude to a Kiss”).

Miki Hayama Trio: Wide Angle

Thu, 19 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Pianist Miki Hayama creates superb jazz on Wide Angle, exploring powerful, edge-of-your-seat quickness with modern dimensions. This album is her third as a leader and received awards from the Japanese jazz magazine Swing Journal in 2009 and 2010.

With the album title perhaps being a nod to the angular McCoy Tyner-ish style of playing that Hayama excels at, the music is full of various moods. Hayama’s trio thrives on quick tempo and high-energy improvisation, a great platform for the pianist’s skill with rapid patterns and leaping bursts. Her agile solos are full of notes which seem to climb and swirl and fall into place like musical puzzle pieces. At mid-tempo songs and slower ballads, her graceful side shows an impressive command of modern jazz piano and smartly constructed arrangements.

北川潔 on Jazz of Japan | Brian McCrory

Miki Hayama: Prelude to a Kiss

Miki Hayama Trio: Wide Angle