“Sometimes when I'm creating,
I feel like the music is coming to
me from a different space, another
dimension, as though I am catching
notes from the silence and then
simply placing them together.”
Kazu Matsui
Keiko Matsui
Keiko Matsui
Maya, Mako & Keiko
Matsui Family
Keiko & Kazu with Siberian Husky
Perhaps more than any other recording in her 15 year strong catalog, her new album Whisper From the Mirror reflects her soul's innermost thoughts, feelings and longings. As with many of the previous albums which have made her Billboard's #1 independent contemporary jazz artist in America and third overall behind Kenny G and Boney James, Whisper From the Mirror's connection to the divine and the universe itself begins with the provocative title.
“Recently, I'd been thinking about the vastness of the universe and where we all came from, and to me, part of the answer can be found in the mirror,” she says. “It reflects not only what is on the outside but also what lies beneath. For me, the music reflects that inner part of myself, and so I see a great connection between what the mirror whispers and how I express my feelings.”
Keiko has never been shy about including musical elements from her Japanese heritage in her music, beginning with husband/producer Kazu's shakuhachi flute. The new collection is no exception. The image of the mirror has a universal application, but it also represents a very important part of her culture that connects with a higher power.
“The mirror is a very interesting thing,” she adds. “In the Japanese Shinto Shrine, at the deepest part of the shrine, a mirror is placed, as if it is a deity or a god itself. The mirror reflects us, our thinking, our soul, our spirit. Looking at our own faces, we get a glimpse of the divine spark in us and we start thinking about the big picture.”
Since she became a staple of the genre with her first two recordings A Drop of Water (1987) and Under Northern Lights (1989), longtime fans have become accustomed to recordings that express numerous aspects of her artistic vision. Her projects have traditionally blended picture perfect, easy funk smooth jazz hits with sweeping orchestral grandeur and beautiful ambiences surrounding solo showcases for her classical inspired musings and improvisations. Whisper From the Mirror varies slightly from this approach in that she creates all the drama away from the trappings of her usual pop fusion and within a more film-score like, atmospheric context.
“Sometimes when I'm creating, I feel like the music is coming to me from a different space, another dimension,” she says, “as though I am catching notes from the silence and then simply placing them together. When I make an album, I follow the flow of the tune or try to find the destiny of the melody. When I composed the tunes for this album, I did not think about the structural restrictions, so the progressions, the tempo and dynamics are not so typical of smooth jazz. These types of ideas are more common in European classical music and film scores. I wasn't specifically leaning in that direction here; I was just more free-willed.”
More mainstream fans will no doubt be delighted with the funky blues jam “Savanna, No Problem,” which is the first single at NAC/Smooth Jazz radio. But she saves the most intriguing tune for last. Most artists who ask legendary keyboardist Bob James to jam with them might simply be seeking his lighthearted, easy improvisational and highly melodic touch to enhance a pop-oriented tune. But the buoyant, improv driven “four- hand piano” piece "Ever After" is something completely different. The notion for the tune began when James asked Keiko to play on his own (as yet unreleased) album last year, performing this type of track. Even a casual listen makes it easy to hear the perfect blend of Keiko's classical and melodic jazz sensibilities.
"I wrote down most of the notes of the song like a classical piece, but left some blank spots for "improvisation," she says. "People ask if there were any overdubs or if there were two pianos being recorded. The joy and challenge here was that we actually shared the same bench! At the beginning of the piece, I took the higher tones, he took the lower...then at one point, he left the bench, and I took a solo. Then I got up and he took a solo. And for the last chorus I came back, and we resumed the song as we did it at the start. It was really an exciting experience working with him. Although Keiko rarely attributes the germ of any single song to any specific related image, it's clear that nature--and particularly the night and the moon and stars--plays a large role in her inspiration. The joy and happiness that comes out in her music is also a reflection of her life with Kazua and her daughters Maya (age 12) and Mako (age 4). The Matsuis spend half their year in a suburb of Tokyo, the other half in Huntington Beach, and they make even the 60-plus dates she does each year part of a family vacation. Their life in Japan is very much like any other family's--- the girls go off to school and Keiko and Kazu take care of business. When they are in Orange County, they take more time to relax; Keiko has become a great cook, specializing in a Japanese-Italian disk called Tarako Spaghetti.
What's their favorite weekend activity? Perhaps contemporary jazz fans who faithfully pilgrimage to October's JazzTrax festival wouldn't be surprised to hear that the Matsuis---who have played the festival a few times---love to take the sailboat out to Avalon and another harbor on the island. "We fell in love with it there, and so we go out for the day or weekend and go swimming and snorkeling," says Keiko. "It gives me the feeling of being in the Mediterranean, yet so close to home."
Just as Kieko is humble when she talks about what inspires her, she's also happily surprised at the apparent healing powers her music seems to have for so many people. A great musical humanitarian, she launched a national tour in 1997 and created an inspirational four-song CD, A Gift of Hope, dedicated to raising awareness for breast cancer prevention and for the "Y-Me National Breast Cancer" organization. The culmination of her Gift of Hope tour came in October of that year, during National Breast Cancer Month, when Academy Award winning director Lee Grant included her music throughout Lifetime's Breast Cancer Special,"Say It, Fight It, Cure It," hosted by Rosie O'Donnell.
"When I am creating, I just don't think about these types of effects that the music is going to have," says Keiko. "But I receive lots of email from people who were in a coma and then came back at one point when my music was playing, or others who find hope through hard times because they listened to a certain song. That is so special. I am grateful that I can have such an impact on them. I feel the same way during my concerts. It's a great feeling knowing that I am in the same space as my fans and that the music can connect people from all cultures."
Keiko Matsui will be appearing with Peter White at Humphrey's Concerts by the Bay, August 18 at 7p.m. Tickets are available at Humphrey's Concerts Box Office and all Ticketmaster locations. 619-220-TIXS.
Humphrey's Concerts Line can be reached at 619-523-1010 or visit their website at www.humphreysconcerts.com
