Balance Point Art Hirahara

• 1 Mother's Song 03:31
• 2 Blessed Son, Mr. Weston 05:41
• 3 Balance Point 05:47
• 4 Ascent 04:10
• 5 G-yokoso 05:40
• 6 Had It Happened 04:55
• 7 A Fine Line Between 03:34
• 8 Like Water 08:02
• 9 Prelude To A Kiss 04:19
• 10 Fulcrum 03:39
• 11 The Path Of The Gods 06:30
• 12 Homage 05:59
• 13 Lament For The Fallen 03:41
• Total Runtime 01:05:28

Info for Balance Point

Pianist Art Hirahara undergoes a transformative journey of self-exploration to discover the "Balance Point" on his fifth release for Posi-Tone. This engaging new record also features several standout performances and meaningful contributions from his trusted collaborators tenor saxophonist Melissa Aldana, bassist Joe Martin, and drummer Rudy Royston. Hirahara utilizes his visionary talents as a bandleader and virtuoso musician to uncover the hidden possibilities latent in the inner nature of the songs to help make bold collaborative statements while ultimately remaining true to himself. All of the original compositions and arrangements of traditional melodies always contain lyrical elements that are clearly suggestive of a modern jazz sensibility while holding a keen focus on remaining straight forward with some hard swinging highlights. With insightful leadership, an amazing combination of talent and musicianship, along with an evocative program of music, Hirahara’s latest release, “Balance Point,” is sure to bring bright moments of intense delight to serious listeners and jazz fans everywhere.

Art Hirahara, piano
Melissa Aldana, saxophone
Joe Martin, bass
Rudy Royston, drums

Art Hirahara
a jazz keyboardist and composer based in New York, NY. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Art moved to New York in 2003 to be challenged by its pool of world-class musicians. Here he has honed his craft, performing in a wide range of musical situations ranging from straight ahead standards to time cycle-based progressive jazz to free improvisation. From the traditional to the avant-garde, Art has found a sound of his own that cuts across genres and boundaries.

Art began his training in music at the age of four, studying with Sue Shannon, an unconventional classical piano teacher who taught improvisation and composition from the earliest stages of musical development. This provided the foundation for his awakening to jazz during his studies at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where he earned a degree in Electronic and Computer Music. During his junior year, he began jazz piano studies with the Cleveland jazz giant, Neal Creque.

He then continued at California Institute of the Arts, where he was mentored by David Roitstein, Charlie Haden and Wadada Leo Smith. It was there that he immersed himself in world music, focusing on West African drumming and dance, Balinese gamelan and North Indian tabla. After his move to New York, Art studied at the Banff Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music program with Dave Douglas in 2004.

Art has had the privilege to perform with Stacey Kent, Freddy Cole, Akira Tana, Rufus Reid, Don Braden, Roseanna Vitro, Dave Douglas, Vincent Herring, Victor Lewis, Travis Sullivan s Bjorkestra, Jim Black, Jenny Scheinman, Greg Cohen, Fred Ho, Sean Nowell, royal hartigan and Hafez Modirzadeh. He has performed around the world in Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, the Middle East and extensively around the United States.

In New York, he has played at the city ’s premier venues, including Birdland, Smalls, Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Jazz Standard and 55 Bar. In addition to performing, Art is an educator. He has taught master classes both domestically and abroad. He taught at the Brooklyn-Queens Conservatory and was a performing member of NY PopsEd, an educational organization focusing on bringing music to elementary and secondary schools.

Art ’s piano and compositional sound are an amalgamation of the varied musical influences he has studied and the wide range of leaders he has worked for. Art is constantly seeking new situations to challenge his musicality. Most recently has worked as a producer for recordings and musical director for various artists of different genres.

This album contains no booklet.