Feature Artist
"KEIKO MATSUI"

Titles:	"Dream Walk" and "A Gift Of HOPE" (Mini-CD)
Artist:	"Keiko Matsui"
Label:	Unity
Released:	January '97
Available:	Most Major Music Stores
Reviewed By:	Donn Jehs
Rating:	$$$$$

Already # 3 on the Contemporary Jazz Album charts, Keiko Matsui is one of the few female jazz composers to hit the top ten, and she has for good reason - her music is riveting. This whole album is one excellent piece of music after another, and all her own compositions. Her sound is unique to the jazz world, combining a new age ethereal touch, and a classical foundation, to jazz motifs with a background of traditional Japanese music, which makes her work a montage of singular beauty.

This is her eighth solo album, and follows last year's highly successful "Doll." A student of the piano since age five, graduate of Japan's Women University, and a student at the Yamaha Music Foundation, she first recorded four albums with her jazz group, "Cosmos," for Yamaha System at the age of 17, and did one other before her first solo effort, "A Drop of Water." With each album her work has only gotten better, and this one is among her best!

The opening and title cut, "Dream Walk," with it's melodic bass background, is a beautiful piano piece which is joined by the saxaphone playing of Paul Taylor to lend an atmospheric feeling to the music. While the track on the album is very dreamy and restful, it can also be keyed up as it was in her live performance.

The second cut "Bridge over the Stars" has received a lot of airplay. It's probably the most familiar cut on the album, and has a more traditional jazz feel to it, especially on the keyboard. On the third cut, "Children of the Oasis," the sax and piano hand the melody back and forth. each time with a little more feeling. This piece reminded me a great deal of the music from the movie "Lawrence of Arabia," with it's clear precise sounds. "Fire in the Desert" is an upbeat piece, and just begs to be improvised with, as Keiko showed in concert. The next song, "Mask," rings with classical influences and has some vocal accompaniment to add to that feeling.

Perhaps the most interesting track is "Tribal Boat," which starts off with the musical impression of a regal barge being rowed. You can almost feel yourself aboard her, as the waves pound against the hull and seabirds circle above.

The last three songs are all light, airy, easy to listen to pieces, and give rise to my only fault with the album - that the most innovative and vital cuts are all up front, with a definite relaxation in the latter part that leaves you a little short - waiting for that one last kicker.

However, this is not all the album has to offer. It is an enhanced CD, and those of you who are reading this, and have a CD -ROM, can enjoy a musical tour with Keiko which includes a video of her performing the title track, a biography, discography, fan info and pictures from a commercial shoot. The nice thing about this enhanced CD is that as you move through each section, a different track off the album accompanies it. As you visit all the sites, you also play the whole album. A nice touch!

In addition to "Dream Walk," a number of large record stores are offering Keiko's Mini CD, "A Gift of Hope," free with the purchase of her "Dream Walk" CD, or it can be purchased by calling 1-800-ASK-TOWER for $5.00, with all proceeds going to the Y-ME National Breast Cancer Organization.

As Ms. Matsui says, "You hear the statistic that one in eight women will become afflicted with this disease, and you have the choice to be scared, or to be active. I choose to be active; I don't want my daughters to know this fear."

The four song CD includes two versions of "Hope," a cut from her "Drop of Water" album, and "Dream Walk" - all acoustic piano pieces. The cover gives information and helpful hints for women (and men) about early detection of breast cancer.

It may be a natural politeness, but I couldn't help being impressed with the wilingness of Keiko to spend time after what must have been a grueling workout entertaining us, to take the time to autograph her CD's. I spoke with her about this review, and she seemed sincerely interested and pleased. You will find the review of the actual concert, and her upcoming tour dates, below.


From the Hyatt Regency in Tampa, FL - 5/2/97
A Night With Keiko Matsui A Fan's View by Donn Jehs
Last October Keiko Matsui, jazz pianist/composer, was the featured act at the Clearwater Jazz Festival and I was unable to get there to see her perform. Imagine my surprise and joy when I discovered she was returning to the area as part of her "Gift of Hope Tour" to raise breast cancer awareness. In fact I bought the last ticket for her show!

There I was in the ballroom of the Hyatt Regency thinking "How will she ever pull off a concert in such a noncongenial venue?" (well the folks were genial). I shouldn't have worried, Keiko was up to the task! Opening with the title track from her fourth album "Night Waltz," and following immediately with "Dream Walk," the title track from her current and eighth album, she established an immediate rapport with the audience. Her superb keyboard work was ably supported by a young saxophonist, Dino Soldo, who was highly impressive with both tenor and alto sax, and Keiko was confident enough in her work to let him share the spotlight on most numbers. The rest of her group consisted of Jinshi Ozaki on guitar, Chris Collangelo on bass and Jason Harnell on drums, all of whom had solo opportunities and didn't waste them.

Keiko is not a gifted speaker, but her few words were heartfelt as she spoke about doing this benefit tour, and I purchased the mini-cd, the funds from which will go to the breast cancer support group Y-ME. The theme song which she played from the CD is called "Hope," a paen of beauty and uplift.

This moment was followed by "Bridge Over the Stars," her latest hit from her current album, and the group really cut loose on this one with a really lively approach that had the audience clapping several times during the number as each performer in turn showed his/her stuff. This and the next few numbers were very upbeat and lively and the audience was treated to some really rocking jazz. "Fire in the Desert," also from her "Dream Walk" album was my personal favorite among this group.

Finally, after this set, which included Keiko picking up the portable keyboard and exchanging rifs with the guitarist, she brought out her husband, Kazu, to play the Shakuhachi, the Japanese bamboo flute for her final two numbers "Wind on the Roof" and "The Walls of the Cave." It was between these two numbers that her husband added a light touch to the evening as he spoke about his musical movie experiences playing the Shakuhachi in a number of well known movies - usually whenever something wierd was about to happen - and his banter with his wife which shows that this is a loving musical couple who enjoy sharing their music with us. In fact they used their honeymoon money to produce Keiko's first album. None of it was affected, just the banter of a loving couple as she prompted him to invite the crowd to, among other things, visit their Web Page.

The last two numbers brought the audience to their feet for a well deserved ovation and an encore of "Believer." Keiko then proceeded to make herself available to sign autographs for any and all of us, and she did just that - noone left unhappy including me - the proud possesor of an autographed copy of "Dream Walk!" Keiko has left for her next stop and I'm afraid she's taken my heart with her. So if she's coming your way do yourself a favor and let her take yours too.

KEIKO MATSUI 1997 "Dream Walk" Tour

5/10/97	Bakersfield, CA	Cal State University	6/08/97	Washington, D.C.	Capital Jazz Festival
5/11/97	Los Angeles, CA	House of Blues	7/27/97	Saratoga, CA	Montalvo Center for the Arts
5/16-18/97	Emeryville, CA	Kimball's East	8/02/97	Tokyo, JAPAN	Katsushika, Symphony Hills
5/31/97	Tempe, AZ	Red River Opry	8/03/97	Tokyo, JAPAN	Urayasu
6/03/97	San Diego, CA	Humphrey Theater	8/08/97	Long Beach, CA	Long Beach Jazz Festival
6/06/97	Newport Beach, CA	TBA	10/11/97	Cerritos, CA	Cerritos Ctr. for Perf. Arts

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