She’s been called a marvel, a musical vixen and a major player with one mean set of chops. Hiromi Uehara, Japan’s bright young jazz star, has been drawing accolades since bursting onto the music scene in 2003 with her debut album, “Another Mind.”
Now Hiromi and her Sonicbloom Quartet will bring their unique mixture of jazz fusion and high-flying, live-show panache to the Arts Center of Coastal Carolina at 8 p.m. May 18.
Blending jazz with elements of classical music, rock and Latin beats, Hiromi has created a unique musical style even she is at a loss to describe.
     “I don’t want to put a name on my music,” the 30-year-old pianist says. “Other people can put a name on what I do. It’s just the union of what I’ve been listening to and what I’ve been learning.”
    The New York Times proclaimed Hiromi’s art “an audacious jolt of fusion,” while the Los Angeles Times calls her “ferociously talented.”
    A child prodigy, Hiromi began piano lessons at the age 6. By 12, she was performing in public with some very-high profile orchestras. She is a graduate of the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston.
    A chance meeting with Chick Corea in Tokyo at the age of 17 led to a performance with the Grammy-winning jazz pianist the very next day. Two years ago, the two reunited at the Tokyo Blue Note Jazz Club to record a live album – “Duet/Chick Corea and Hiromi.”
Her latest album, “Beyond Standard,” released in 2008, offers listeners exciting, smart arrangements of old familiar tunes like Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “My Favorite Things,” Gershwin’s “I Got Rhythm” and Debussy’s “Clair de Lune.”
    AllAboutJazz.com said of “Beyond Standard,” “There’s only one problem reviewing an album by Hiromi Uehara, but it’s a big one. You can quickly run out of superlatives. … This is not just a good album; it’s a fun album.” And the Philadelphia Inquirer hailed it as “a monster of jazz recording.”
    The original compositions and innovative interpretations of standards show off Hiromi’s unique talent on keyboards. In Gershwin’s iconic tune “I Got Rhythm,” the pianist’s fingers fly across the ivory at breakneck speed creating dense flurries of notes and chords in an explosive jolt of fusion.
     Adding to the experience are cutting-edge guitarist Dave Fiuczynski and Berklee chums Tony Grey on bass and Martin Valihora on drums.  
    Tickets for the performance are $44. For more information, call 843-842-ARTS or visit www.artshhi.com .