The model-like beauty and stylish classiness of pianist Eiko Rikuhashi is reflected in her music as well. On her debut EP You Are My Strength, Rikuhashi combines her own compositions with immortal classics from Antonio Carlos Jobim, Gene de Paul, and Joe Zawinul, every track gorgeously and tastefully played. It's a dazzler of a first effort, displaying the kind of emotional depth and artistic maturity that one usually doesn't find on a newcomer's record.
Born in Osaka, Japan, Rikuhashi began playing piano at the age of eight. Initially she studied classical and popular music. She continued her musical education in Kyoto, Japan but then relocated to New York in 2008 to pursue a career as a professional pianist and to collaborate with other artists as well. You Are My Strength represents the sum of Rikuhashi's knowledge and experiences thus far in the jazz field. However, the polished craftsmanship and technical precision of the recordings glow with the fingerprints of veteran hands; she is an outstanding musician, wise beyond her youth.
On the opening cut, “I'll Do for You," the soothing textures of Rikuhashi's piano acts as an anchor for Keith Loftis' flighty saxophone and Dmitri Kolesnik's pulsating bass. The chemistry between Rikuhashi and her bandmates is characterized by teamwork and not individual excess, which is not common in jazz these days; nobody is attempting to eclipse the other, not even Rikuhashi herself. One of the best tracks is “Restart," a Rikuhashi original. “Restart" has the lush romanticism of a film score; Rikuhashi's playing flows like the waves of an ocean and just as pretty, too. When Loftis' yearning sax enters the picture, the song deepens its hypnotic pull.
You Are My Strength is an album that conveys the emotions of entering a new world and beginning another life; through Rikuhashi's piano awe-inspiring images of New York unreel in the imagination, excitement for the future as well as a longing for the past.
Born in Osaka, Japan, Rikuhashi began playing piano at the age of eight. Initially she studied classical and popular music. She continued her musical education in Kyoto, Japan but then relocated to New York in 2008 to pursue a career as a professional pianist and to collaborate with other artists as well. You Are My Strength represents the sum of Rikuhashi's knowledge and experiences thus far in the jazz field. However, the polished craftsmanship and technical precision of the recordings glow with the fingerprints of veteran hands; she is an outstanding musician, wise beyond her youth.
On the opening cut, “I'll Do for You," the soothing textures of Rikuhashi's piano acts as an anchor for Keith Loftis' flighty saxophone and Dmitri Kolesnik's pulsating bass. The chemistry between Rikuhashi and her bandmates is characterized by teamwork and not individual excess, which is not common in jazz these days; nobody is attempting to eclipse the other, not even Rikuhashi herself. One of the best tracks is “Restart," a Rikuhashi original. “Restart" has the lush romanticism of a film score; Rikuhashi's playing flows like the waves of an ocean and just as pretty, too. When Loftis' yearning sax enters the picture, the song deepens its hypnotic pull.
You Are My Strength is an album that conveys the emotions of entering a new world and beginning another life; through Rikuhashi's piano awe-inspiring images of New York unreel in the imagination, excitement for the future as well as a longing for the past.
