Moyo
Keiko Matsui
2007/Shout Factory

Pianist Keiko Matsui, a favorite among smooth jazz and crossover fans for her elegant melodic style, breaks new ground on several fronts with Moyo. Having split with her husband Kazu Matsui, who produced her previous albums, she produced it herself, for a new label (Shout Factory), and recorded much of it in South Africa (as well as Japan, New York, California, and Colorado). Moyo has a high special-guest quotient: trumpeter Hugh Masekela, saxophonists Paul Taylor and Gerald Albright, and singer-bassist Richard Bona are featured. But the clean and sometimes spare arrangements allow the personal nature of the writing to come through. When Matsui trusts in the forceful lyricism of her playing, as on the title track (Swahili for "Heart and Soul"), she makes the strongest impression. But even when she employs synthesizer and soprano sax sweetening, the songs maintain their honest expression. The rhythmic thrust of South African-derived songs such as "After the Rain" may well open her up to a new audience.

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Keiko Matsui's Whisper from the Mirror is not identified as a theme-based project, yet it's hard not to be caught up in the cohesion and storytelling progression. A mix of classical, jazz, and New Age elements, Matsui's 10th studio project is an all-instrumental, piano-centered affair that has the feel of soundtrack, only it's left for the listener to fill in the blanks. Matsui's melodramatic flourishes are kept earthbound by a subtle, urban-tribal rhythmic base that attractively threads its way through the project. Jazz fans may feel that she sometimes sticks too close to the white keys (some comparisons to Yanni might surface here), yet the recording's rewards reach listeners in more sublime ways, such as on the heart-touching, gently propulsive "Torches on the Earth" and "Beyond the Light." The disc takes its jazziest turn on the final cut, when Bob James joins Matusi at the piano for a four-handed "Ever After." For listeners attracted to the more mystical elements in Matsui's music, Whisper from the Mirror is a voice worth heeding.

CD available at:
amazon.com
keikomatsui.com