Pianist and composer
Keiko Matsui has been making records since 1991, but it somehow seems surprising that
Euphoria is her 30th album.
Matsui makes music that embraces and balances tradition, modernity, and the contemporary in jazz, classical, and pop. She is relentless in adding harmonic and rhythmic invention and imagination to virtually everything she does, yet keeps her music (mostly) readily accessible.
Euphoria is no exception. Conceptually, she focuses on music's inherent potential to deepen human experience. With her studio and road bands, and co-producer
Bud Harner, she worked at Hollywood's Studio A, while her guests added their individual parts in studios across the country.
Opener "Steps on the Globe" juxtaposes big-band horns, contemporary jazz piano, and a Rhodes (by arranger
Ron Pedley) with lithe funk thanks to some killer guitar vamping. The swing quotient is high with a horn section soaring above the groove. Guitarist
Mike Stern assists on "The Choice"; he tracks
Matsui's knotty vamp and rides above
Alex Al's rubbery bassline as drummer
Greg Bisonette drives them all. Funk meets elegant contemporary fusion, with brief solos by the principal and guitarist. Trumpeter
Randy Brecker appears on "Neo." Piano, bubbling percussion, and bass grooves deliver the vamp before
Pedley's Rhodes colors the body.
Brecker enters unhurriedly playing and improvising on the melody. The conversation he shares with
Matsui as the tune ratchets is a set highlight. Immediately following is the single "Love and Nothing Less," featuring vocalist
Lalah Hathaway and harmonica player
Gregoire Maret. It's a silvery, tender ballad rife with intimate atmosphere, simmering passion, and grace. The interplay between singer, pianist, and harmonicist is seamless. The third consecutive guest spot belongs to contemporary jazz saxophonist
Kirk Whalum on "Luminescence." Soulful horns, sweeping piano, organ, and Rhodes gather the groove intensity; it's the perfect vehicle for
Whalum's tenor solo before trading canny fours with
Matsui's hard-bopping blues. "Rosso Cantabile," featuring percussionist
Luis Conte, balances traditional tango with
Astor Piazzolla's tango nuevo atop brooding groove jazz and classical strings in the set's most dramatic track. "Legend of Yaguaron" is finger-popping, Latin-tinged contemporary jazz that showcases dazzling interplay between
Matsui,
Conte, and flutist
Brandon Fields, whose
Dave Valentin-esque solos are breathtaking. Vibraphonist
Joel Ross guests on the dramatic title track. Introduced by strings and piano stating the theme, its rhythmic pulses -- on drums and percussion instruments -- are syncopated, shifting time signatures with startling regularity.
Ross initially paints the changes while
Matsui appends and extrapolates her harmonic reach on the melody, before
Ross grounds it in blues in his killer solo. Buoyed by
Michael Thompson's electric guitar and arranger
John Beasley's synth,
Matsui grabs
Ross' blues and builds on them, pushing the harmony toward the transcendent. In
Matsui's vast discography,
Euphoria stands apart for its edifying compositions, musical diversity, and careful yet seamless integration of musicians and themes. ~ Thom Jurek
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