Stanley Clarke (electric and acoustic bass), Hiromi (piano), Ruslan Sirota (keyboards), Ronald Bruner Jr. (drums)

Stanley Clarke is one of the most acclaimed bassists in jazz. He became famous with the band Return to Forever. His special guest is the talented Japanese pianist Hiromi who makes exciting, dazzling music but who can also perform simply.

Stanley Clarke's arrival in the jazz world in 1971 was explosive. The slim teenager from Philadelphia was able to immediately work with well known band leaders such as Horace Silver Art Blakey, Dexter Gordon, Joe Henderson, Gil Evans, Stan Getz and a young pianist, Chick Corea. At once, these artists recognised his raw talent and musicality.

With Chick Corea, he created one of the most influential electric fusion bands, Return to Forever. The band recorded eight albums, two of them gold albums.

Stanley Clarke had firmly placed the bass in the forefront and especially did that  with albums like ‘School Days’. He also developed a special slap technique that a lot of funk bass players had started to use. He saw this maneuver watching Larry Graham of Sly and The Family Stone, but he refined it.

Clarke also had great influence on the instrument’s construction. He has always been inextricably linked with the handmade Alembic bass guitars he played. Later he joined with George Duke, Jeff Beck, Ronnie Wood and Keith Richards’ New Barbarians, and with Jean-Luc Ponty and Al Di Meola.  Beginning in 2001, he returned to the jazz scene.

For the album Jazz in the Garden, he chose pianist Hiromi. Hiromi Uehara is both straightforward but she can play avant garde with great aplomb. Her blend of traditional and modern music is unexpected. She surprised the jazz world with her debut album ‘Another Mind’, which was produced by pianist Ahmad Jamal. In her native country she sold over 100,000 copies of the album and in 2004 it was selected  jazz album of the year. Then came  a series of albums, which won many awards.

After a coincidental meeting with pianist Chick Corea at Yamaha headquarters in Tokyo, she ended up on stage with Corea for an improvisation on two pianos. In 1999 Hiromi went to the Berklee College of Music. Bass player Richard Evans became her mentor. Together with his friend Ahmad Jamal  they took care of Hiromi. "She is amazing. Her music, together with her overwhelming charm and spirit, will propel her to great musical heights ", he said. Hiromi’s influences are endless. "I love Bach, Oscar Peterson, Franz Liszt, Ahmad Jamal. But I love Sly and the Family Stone, Dream Theater and King Crimson just as well", she says.