Miho Hazama “Time River”
Interview & text by: Akira Sakamoto
The jazz composer who serves as a bridge between jazz and classical music
Miho Hazama who has been expanding her music activities as a jazz composer has released “Time River,” the second album under her own name for the first time in three years. The second album follows as an extension of “Journey to Journey,” the first album, in every point such as the sound, band formation, and members.
“I try not to change the contents of albums and band formation too much until my image as a composer or artist is established. Still, songwriting is up to the inspiration of when I’m working on it, so my songs would vary inevitably. I’ve always liked orchestras so the ensemble ended up being like a chamber orchestra of a cross between an orchestra and a big band.”
Though she hangs out a ‘jazz composer’ sign, she studied jazz composition at the graduate course of Manhattan School of Music after majoring in classical music composition at Kunitachi College of Music in Japan. The composer makes the best use of all her variations, such as jazzy harmonies, rhythms and improvisation while fully incorporating classic techniques such as delicate controlling of the tones and polyphonic movements of each vocal part into the arrangements.
However, when listened to without any preconception, her music entertains your intellectual curiosity with the cleverly calculated structuring and intelligent improvisation while versatilely fascinating you with graceful, silky, and friendly sounds and melodies as a whole. The first song “Urban Legend”, which sounds like coming through a radio, shows not only such her music but also her character very well. Also, the guest musicians, Joshua Redman (saxophone) and Gil Goldstein (accordion) plays perfectly resonating with her musicality.
As well as the original songs, the album picks up A Perfect Circle’s “Magdalena” that she fell in love with when she heard her high-school friends’ band covering the song. In the album, songs are given twists to the arrangements; for instance, the freaky tone of the saxophone is played instead of the original screaming rock guitar at the climax, proving what a multifaceted composer she is.
“I’m really happy that many non-jazz artists who wanted to try jazzy tunes before have started asking to work with me after I started to identify myself as a ‘jazz composer.’ Because I’d always wanted to be a bridge between jazz and classical music.” Her delightful music possesses the mighty capability to break barriers between genres.
