Japanese piano star Hiromi shares live version of ‘Balloon Pop’ from new album ‘Out There’

Hitting a new dynamic high with her Sonicwonder band of leading bass guitarist Hadrien Feraud, drummer Gene Coye and trumpeter Adam O’Farrill, Japanese piano star Hiromi has been taking concert halls and festivals by storm since the release of their 2023 debut Sonicwonderland. Dazzling thousands at their explosive Love Supreme Jazz Festival set last summer, it was clear that Hiromi was now taking her high intensity brand of jazz-fusion to new levels. So it’s no surprise that the band’s second release, and her 13^th studio album, Out There (Telarc) builds on the band’s effortless empathy and collective creativity.

This new group has furthered Hiromi’s distinctive musical alchemy: the spirit of classic jazz-rock fusion melded with classically rooted virtuosity, entrancing funk, pop flourishes, and acoustic jazz. Out There captures their deep chemistry and fearless sense of interplay amid nearly two years of touring and playing together. Hiromi invites you to buckle up, for a fun, thoughtful, and wild musical ride. 

For over more than 20 years as a recording artist, the pianist and composer Hiromi has shifted seamlessly from one spellbinding project to the next. In the process, she’s earned a reputation as one of the most explosive live performers in jazz history and a global ambassador for the art form.

Says Hiromi: “On Sonicwonderland, I had the concept and the songs first, and I was looking for the people who could play the music in the ideal way that I had in my mind. Being with this group for well over a year,” she continues, “playing a lot of shows together and understanding each other, I started to see more of their strength and what shines in them the most. So, I started to write music with them in mind.” 

Hiromi’s Sonicwonder brings together world-class musicians of diverse backgrounds. French-born Feraud is a fusion virtuoso who has been compared to bass great Jaco Pastorius. Coye hails from Chicago, where he grew up playing in church and combines technical mastery with a soulful knack for groove and pocket. Brooklyn-raised O’Farrill, part of a dynasty that includes his father and grandfather, Latin-jazz titans Arturo and Chico O’Farrill, ranks among his generation's most important and progressive trumpeters. Throughout the album, O’Farrill conjures up audacious new sonic textures through electronics — part of his toolbox that Hiromi encouraged him to develop fully.  

“[Bass legend and collaborator] Anthony Jackson always told me that a first-class musician can do anything,” Hiromi says. “You don’t really have to put them in one genre or one category.” Knowing that anything she composed would be met with outstanding performances, Hiromi let her fiercest ambitions run wild when crafting the music on Out There. “It all comes from curiosity,” she explains. “I think curiosity is the key to everything. How can you express yourself more? How can you write more?”

And having wowed UK audiences with their infectious energy – not least at a sold-out EFG London Jazz Festival show in the autumn of 2023, Hiromi’s Sonicwonder Band are set to  perform at the Barbican in London on Friday 21 November 2025.

See the live video for Balloon Pop below and click here to pre-order/pre-save ‘Out There’