Keiko Matsui - Whisper From The Mirror [MP3 192][h33t][schon55]

Album: Whisper From The Mirror - 2000

Artist: Keiko Matsui

Genre: Jazz

Bitrate : 192



"Fusion/new age keyboard player Keiko Matsui grew up in Tokyo, and took her first piano lesson at the age of five. Influenced by Stevie Wonder and Rachmaninov as well as early fusion masters Maurice Jarre and Chick Corea, Matsui began composing while in junior high, but studied children's culture at the Japan Women's University (Nihon Joshidaigaku)."



Keiko Matsui is usually classified as a jazz musician, which tends to mean that she doesn't get very good reviews, since she is reviewed by jazz critics, while her music actually is best described as a hybrid consisting of equal parts pop, jazz, and new age. Matsui can be an impressive keyboard soloist at times, but her recordings consist of textured tracks that find her featured playing set within a soundscape characterized by synthesized drums and strings. Whisper From the Mirror, her 11th album, is typical of her work, consisting of a series of four- and five-minute instrumental pieces full of shimmering, sustained sounds that pillow Matsui's delicate single-note runs and stately chord patterns. Derek Nakamoto's arrangements are occasionally stirring, but never frantic, and usually they emphasize flow over rhythm, just as the keyboardist shows more interest in sustaining moods than demonstrating her chops, even when she concludes the album with a four-handed piano duet with Bob James. It may be time to think about re-classifying Keiko Matsui from "jazz" to "new age," or even just putting her in a classification by herself. In the meantime, Whisper From the Mirror is another in a series of enjoyable recordings. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide



01 Whisper From The Mirror

02 Invisible Wing

03 Tears Of The Ocean

04 Between The Moons

05 Beyond The Light

06 Torches On The Earth

07 Dimensions

08 Savanna, No Problem

09 Midnight Stone

10 See You There

11 Ever After