Drummers are crucial to many genres of music, but Japanese jazz-fusion pianist Hiromi’s collaboration with tap dancer Kazunori “Kaz” Kumagai proves they may not be so necessary after all.
The duo came to SFJAZZ’s Miner Auditorium Oct. 1 and 3, two of Hiromi’s four consecutive nights performing at the venue. Hiromi, known for her exuberant and dynamic playing style, said Kaz was “somebody who can match my energy.” Kaz is an award-winning dancer and musician in his own right. Both artists also performed at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Opening Ceremony.
The first track of the night, “Wanderer,” set the mood for the virtuosic performances to come. The start of the tune gushed with texture and a compelling bassline from Hiromi, while Kaz launched immediately into skillful, percussive tap dancing. He echoed Hiromi’s rhythms, accentuating her melodies and punctuating her phrases. The gravity of the song’s beginning soon shifted to a playful improvised section, with moments of unbelievable rhythmic synchronicity eventually leading back to the head.
The versatility of Kaz’s dancing became even more apparent in their second piece, which featured several playful moments of call-and-response as Kaz and Hiromi musically bantered with one another. At times, his percussion resembled a typical rock drumbeat; at others, it sounded like beatboxing.When he strung together chains of dense percussive taps, it almost sounded like falling rain.
After a bluesy third piece, Hiromi took the mic and said a few words about her partnership with Kaz — now 20 years in the making. The next piece, she said, was called “All This Time,” and was meant to commemorate their 20-year partnership. It started with slow, contemplative chord progressions from Hiromi, though a persistent sense of motion rippled through her music. As Kaz stepped onstage, he scraped his tap shoes across his wooden tap board, evoking the sound of an arrow whistling through the air. His movements ramped up dramatically as he scraped, spun and tapped himself into a whirlwind.
This new composition, like much of Hiromi’s work, showed off her penchant for wide, emotional landscapes within a single piece. As the slow piano morphed into a more lively conversation, it began to sound as though Hiromi and Kaz were simply talking over each other as they played and danced. Other moments were slow and dramatic — Kaz looked like he was running forward, while also being dragged back into vicissitudes of time as a series of descending chords cascaded from the piano.
The mood shifted after the intermission — instead of the often dramatic soundscapes of the first half, Hiromi and Kaz went all-in on play. Kaz kicked it off with a solo performance dedicated to his mother. He stepped off the tap board and danced on the bare wood of the stage, creating flurries of triplet rhythms. As he led the audience in rhythmic clapping, he leapt off the stage and started tap-dancing through the aisles of Miner Auditorium. It felt suddenly as if we onlookers had become part of the performance itself.
Though they had spent the entire night delivering brilliant performances, they still managed to top it off. Hiromi introduced the last official song of the night as their version of classical composer Bedřich Smetana’s “The Moldau.” But in the spirit of fun, she hinted to the audience that a different river had been snuck into the piece.
The tune began markedly different from some of the other sets of the night — instead of showing off her own compositional flair, Hiromi initially remained faithful to Smetana’s original work. But all of a sudden, the neat, straight-eighth rhythms of Smetana were thrown into an extravagant jazzy swing and the music eventually shifted into a resounding rendition of Henry Mancini’s “Moon River.” The echoes of the jazz arrangement lingered in the room as Hiromi played her way back to Smetana’s original theme. After launching into a bluesy rock tune, the two performers again traded bars, taunting each other while flaunting their talent. The casual delight of that conversation further set the stage for an incredible return to Smetana’s piece, capping off the night.
After a playful encore, the two old friends hugged, sending a rejuvenated audience into the San Francisco night.