★★★★★
Everyone can use a good shakeup once in a while to put things into perspective, and the nervous system of Japanese-born pianist and composer Keiko Matsui certainly underwent a serious reboot when she found herself in a Tokyo train station during the massive 2011 earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan. That scare, balanced out by a happier occasion, the 25th anniversary of her U.S...
- jazztimes.com
2014-04-06
★★★★★
Nothing hurt the new age artists and their market more than the advent of smooth jazz. When smooth jazzers took the kind of music new agers had been creating and gave it a backbeat, along with obvious R&B; sentimentality, sales of new age music dropped off the radar. A few of the more well-known new age musicians have survived, such as David Lanz, but in order to do so they moved their music more towards the light R&B; stylings, smooth jazzers grew and cultivated...
- www.jazzreview.com
2011-08-01
★★★★★
Keiko Matsui is a master on the piano or the keytar, and she's demonstrated her technical skills both on record and onstage--especially during her remarkable four-hand piano gigs with Bob James. But throughout her distinguished career, Matsui hasn't been overly concerned with garnering recognition for her virtuosity. The Tokyo-born artist, although often placed in the contemporary-jazz category, has always been more about inspiration and hope...
- www.jazztimes.com
2011-04-25
★★★★★
Track Listing: Secret Pond; Falcon's Wing; Nguea Wonja; Bohemian Concerto; Embrace & Surrender; Awakening; Touching Peace; Affirmation; The Road...
- www.allaboutjazz.com
2011-03-14
★★★★★
Moyo, Swahili for "heart and soul, is an inspirational release from keyboardist Keiko Matsui. It was recorded on location in South Africa with musicians including Gerald Albright, Paul Taylor, Richard Bona, Akira Jimbo and Waldemar Bastos. The album is a melodic work of art, in which she allows the listener into her experiences, those which she chronicles through twelve poignant tracks. Although she has sold 1.2 million units in the U.S...
- www.allaboutjazz.com
2010-08-20
★★★★★
Keiko Matsui hasn't yet handed over her talents over to a hotshot producer who could program her composing and keyboard skills into a smooth-jazz wet dream. Instead, on her 11th CD, Matsui continues to build on the kind of sweeping and dreamy piano music that illuminates the soundtrack of the mind, a grandiose sound more in common with Yanni and Jim Brickman than Bob James (who she has performed with) or Brian Culbertson...
- www.jazztimes.com
2010-02-19
★★★★★
Composer and keyboardist Keiko Matsui's mostly acoustic piano pieces have always been signaled by gradual openings that build to rousing conclusions. In between, she displays her skills with memorable melodies and some fantastic keyboard jaunts...
- www.jazztimes.com
2010-02-19
★★★★★
Keyboardist Keiko Matsui says she conjured the fictitious name Akendora to describe a place where she finds peace and contemplation. But her latest CD opens with anything but serenity, with a wailing trumpet that gives way to an unstructured jazz piece with frantic piano runs. But that chaos leads into "Crystal Shadow," one of the two best pure pop songs on the disc, with its repeated bass lead line and Matsui's piano flitting in and out of musical spaces...
- www.jazztimes.com
2010-02-19
★★★★★
The "Information Age" has brought about great strides in all aspects of how learned thought is disseminated. Different cultures and ideologies are either a phone call or airplane ride away; on top of that, the Internet accomplishes tasks that once took hours to achieve, but can now occur in a matter of minutes. Artistically speaking, music has always been at the forefront of bridging cultural differences and from different walks of life...
- www.jazzreview.com
2009-06-08