Performing solo piano has been compared to tightrope walking without a net and swimming in an ocean without a flotation device. You're just kind of out there.On the other hand, some pianists, usually the more proficient and/or adventurous ones, have equated solo piano playing to capturing a nique sense of freedom. After hearing The Piano, there's no dout that Keiko Matsui falls into this latter group.Keiko is liberated from the restraints of other instruments throughout most tracks on The Piano. It's a subtraction taht adds more voice and colours to her highly original music, rather than take away from it.Fans of the Japanese pianist can enphasize with her emancipation once they hear familiar songs from Keiko's catalog that stripped down to their essence here, yet given new wings. "Water Lily,""Beyobd the Light" and "Forever, Forever," respectively from her recordings,"Doll,""Whisper from the Mirror" and "Full Moon & The Shrine" are given wonderful new treatments taht gives power ti the old adage that less is more.Another great example is "Light Above the Trees," which appeared on Keiko's first album, "A Drop of Water," nearly 15 years ago. Her use of space here is comparable tosome of the great masters of silence, like Maurice Ravel, Miles Davis, Shirley Horn and Barbra Streisand. She creats more tension and dramma saying nothing between phrases than most new age pianisits playing cluster of block chords.Which brings up another point.You probably found The Piano in the new age or smooth jazz section of your music store. The two genres have becomes kind of a dumping ground for a lot of progressive instrumental music that the mainstream record business can't nearly fit into a box. But, 'new age' or 'smooth jazz' hardly catagorizes Keiko's music.The echoes of blues and classic jazz that can be heard in her music, like on "Light Above The Trees," have attracted contemporar jazz and acoustic jazz lovers to her. The remnants of her classical training and her understanding of electronics as an aid to building a composition, two factors that come together on "Whisper in the Mirror," has led to fans from electronica, space music and world music to add Keiko Matsui piano records to their collections.All these classification and sub-genres do a great disservice to the music on The Piano. If there's one tag that comes the closest to putting a handle on this 13 tracks, as well as most of Keiko's records, it's the term world music. That's becouse, in addition to building a commercially successful and award-winning career on both sides of this planet, the music of Keiko Matsui, in all its flavor and colors, harmonies and dynamics, never stray from her Japanese roots.No matter how jazzy,("Between the Moons") pop-like ("Beyond the Light") or classically influenced,("Doll"), there's always a sense of a tranquil Japanese meadow or an exciting Tokyo night in her music. It is a music taht has taken Keiko Matsui from Japan and given her to the world. On The Piano, alone with her instrument, the diminutive keyboard player continues the climb on her way to become a giant.- Mark Ruffin
Chicago Magazine/Amazon.com