If we're talking Keiko Matsui, we can expect another impressionistic album cover which belies the often explosive music on the disc. Matsui draws a little more from her heritage this time but textures it with soulful excursions ("Walking on the Bridge"). She once again gives radio a seductive earful while continuing her heightened exploration into more challenging orchestral sounds and several impressive, wildly percussive Latin journeys (e.g. "Sail South"). Making perfect use of Lenny Castro   [ read more ]

CD $41.78

If we're talking Keiko Matsui, we can expect another impressionistic album cover which belies the often explosive music on the disc. Matsui draws a little more from her heritage this time but textures it with soulful excursions ("Walking on the Bridge"). She once again gives radio a seductive earful while continuing her heightened exploration into more challenging orchestral sounds and several impressive, wildly percussive Latin journeys ("Sail South"). Making perfect use of Lenny Castro's   [ read more ]

CD $8.54

Collection is a rather unusual CD sampler in that the dozen selections by keyboardist Keiko Matsui are drawn from just two releases: Northern Lights and No Borders. As it turned out, those were Matsui's only MCA sets, and they led to her becoming a major star in the pop/jazz world. The musicianship is excellent on this CD, and the electronics have not dated too much. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide

CD $11.38

Keiko Matsui's last album, 2000s Whisper From the Mirror, was picked up and reissued by the Narada label in 2001, and Narada is also releasing her 12th album, Deep Blue. It's an appropriate match-up for the Japanese pianist, since Narada is known primarily as a new age label, and, though her records are being released on its Narada Jazz imprint, "new age" is actually the best category to place her in. From the start of her career, Matsui has been shelved under "jazz," but th   [ read more ]

CD $16.13

CD $46.53

This pop-jazz recording by Japanese pianist/keyboardist Keiko Matsui is actually better than many comparable contemporary jazz recordings. The melodies are catchy and charming but rather low-key, most of the pieces are quite atmospheric ("1942, From Russia" sounds like a piece from a Hollywood epic), and several unusual moods (for pop-jazz, that is) are explored. Matsui's piano playing is interesting and adds further substance to the music. The other musicians include various session playe   [ read more ]

CD $8.54

Taking a stroll through Keiko Matsui's musical hypnotherapy session Dream Walk is like entering a funhouse where all previous definitions of contemporary jazz are strikingly distorted, and invention walks on the wild side of East meets West. Crisp melodies have always been at the heart of the keyboardist's best work, only here they come at you as part of the mood, rather than the central theme. Only a handful of the keyboardist's tunes follow conventional linear melodic patterns throughout, and even t   [ read more ]

CD $8.54

This auspicious introduction to the many aspects of the composer's skills finds her surrounded by a slew of L.A.'s top players, some of whom had yet to begin their own solo careers at this point: Grant Geissman, Brandon Fields, Robben Ford, Nathan East, Vinnie Colaiuta, and Jimmy Johnson. Matsui balances a mystic Eastern edge with a lighthearted new agey pop appeal. "Ancient Wind" and the Geissman co-composition "Mediterranean Sand" are the best cuts, building from pastoral ide   [ read more ]

CD $8.54

CD $46.53

CD $11.39

CD $39.88

If there's such a thing as poetic music, Matsui continues her discovery of it on this effort. For all its beauty ad more aggressive touches, this collection doesn't quite measure up to her previous collection No Borders, but there are moments of fusion in her work here which cook like never before, thanks to Eric Marienthal, Gerald Albright and guitarist Ron Komie. While husband/producer Kazu Matsui adds his mysterious shakuhachi wind to "Grey Cliffs," Matsui spends her time creating   [ read more ]

CD $41.78