Best of Hiroshima

Hiroshima Best of Hiroshima (Epic) According to the L.A.-based Hiroshima, jazz plays a small role in its jazz-rock formula. On this best-of package, too many simplistic melodies laid on mechanistic rhythm beds make for a bland listening experience, badly needing jazz's spontaneity and rough edges. Hints of exotica come from such Japanese instruments as koto, taiko, and shakuhachi, but this Asian-American hybrid band lacks for anything deeper than surface appeal. C --Josef Woodard