Hiromi Kanda Hiromi Kanda doesn’t just sing the standards, she embodies them. On her new album, Hiromi in Love, and the sensational videos that accompany the recordings, the Japanese vocalist transforms each classic into a work of art. With an elegant visual style that matches the grandeur of the songs—timeless Great American Songbook gems such as “That Old Feeling” “My Funny Valentine” and “Someone to Watch Over Me”—Hiromi places this music back into the context in which it was created while breathing new life into it. And it’s all a labor of love. “The jazz standards that I sing are splendid works,” she says, “so beautiful. And they are irreplaceable. When I sing them, I try to convey the richness of these sparkling compositions. Many of these songs are 50 years old or more but they have never faded and never will.” Recorded with members of the Honolulu Symphony, and arranged by multi-instrumentalist/conductor/composer Matt Catingub with Ignace Jang serving as concertmaster, Hiromi in Love recaptures the ambience of landmark albums by such greats as Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole and Ray Charles. Each of those artists has been a major influence on Hiromi, who began singing when she was only 3 years old. Born in Nagasaki, where her parents owned a painting business, Hiromi was exposed to American music via the American armed forces personnel stationed in the city. “My parents always took me to their job sites and I met one American family that taught English in the local high school. They had a son named Jimmy,” Hiromi remembers, “the same age as me, and we played and I always heard the American music. We used to sing together.” At 8, Hiromi and her family moved to Osaka, where she stayed until she was 18. There music of all kinds entered her life, from Sinatra and Cole to the Monkees and the Supremes. She watched Soul Train, grooved to the Doobie Brothers, loved the Carpenters and longed to be Olivia Newton-John. “When I heard her song ‘Have You Never Been Mellow,’ I wanted to be the Japanese Olivia,” she says. At 11, Hiromi auditioned for a famous Japanese children’s TV show but she was not chosen. When she was 17, though, she vowed to become a professional singer and began working steadily toward that goal. She sang along to records, entertained her neighbors and absorbed as much music as she could. “My parents were not rich, and a piano required space and money,” she says, “but I joined the chorus in junior high school and began singing the European classics.” Finally, at 19, Hiromi felt she was ready to enter the world of show business. Auditioning for Japanese TV’s popular A Star Is Born (something along the lines of American Idol, but preceding it), she made it through all of the preliminaries and was chosen to appear on the program. Of more than two million initial applicants, only 88 were ultimately chosen as finalists. Hiromi won the contest and was signed to a recording contract in Japan. She released an album that sold well, but when the label that had signed Hiromi subsequently decided she needed an image change, she refused. “They wanted something sexier,” she says, “but I thought it was ridiculous. I could sing well, I could work with lyrics and I believed in my music style.” Rather than succumb to the company’s wishes, Hiromi left the label, putting her singing on hold to develop her skills as a lyricist. It wasn’t until recent years that Hiromi decided, due to the respect and love she and her husband, Yusuke Hoguchi, shared for the American standards, that Hiromi should pick up the mic again. With Yusuke serving as executive producer, Hiromi began work on the recordings that now comprise Hiromi in Love. This time, as another classic goes, she did it her way. “I love this music,” Hiromi says. “I love the tension of the chords and the blue notes. When I hear a good song with a good sound, it leaves a deep impression on me. Melody comes first—good melody, good lyrics and good arrangements.” All of those components are in ample supply on Hiromi in Love. Hiromi burrows deep inside the core of songs like “In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning,” “Cry” and “When I Fall in Love.” She discovers their essence and conveys them as the songwriters—giants such as Sammy Cahn, Rodgers and Hart, Irving Berlin and the Gershwins— intended, as rich, lush encapsulations of human emotion and drama. Although the brilliant recordings stand alone, the videos created by Hiromi and her team to accompany the CD—for 11 of the album’s 13 songs—add a whole other dimension to her renditions. Attired and bedecked stunningly, Hiromi captures not only the sound of the American pop/jazz classics she so adores, but the look of the era’s female divas and film stars. “If I just wear blue jeans on a video and sing, I’m not as inspired,” Hiromi says. “It is important to me to evoke a visual style for my music.” In order to perfect the look she wanted, the singer studied old movies from the period in which her chosen songs were created. “I love Marilyn Monroe,” she says. “She is wonderful. And the American musical film is really splendid, too.” Having established herself in her homeland, Hiromi is now looking toward the place where her favorite music was born. “If Americans enjoy my music, if my songs can be played on American radio, that would make me so happy,” she says. “We may all be different, but we can all feel sadness, happiness and pleasure. That’s what this music is about.”