darkshade
easily one of the best jazz-fusion albums of the last 10 years. Hiromi's playing is fantastic, and the music has the energy of 70s fusion, mixed with modern sounds (especially by fretless guitarist Dave Fuze).
This album is also quite accessible, if you have even the slightest interest in jazz, you will enjoy this record.
I must say, when i first heard of Hiromi, i saw her album covers and thought it was some modern contemporary jazz, not pushing the boundaries, and probably boring or predictable. NOPE. The opposite. While it keeps the jazz tradition of "it must swing", that's about as far as tradition goes. The drums are out of control, the bass is tight, with that modern fusion bass tone, but it's Hiromi who takes the songs to new, unheard levels.
The best way i can describe this music, is she approaches fusion with a traditional/acoustic jazz mindset. But the compositions are very proggy, and quite progressive ;) so dont think it's straight ahead jazz with moogs and rhoades piano. This is electric fusion at its finest, and one of the more original jazz albums ive come across released in the 2000s. plus Hiromi is hot!