Keiko Matsui The Jazz Channel (2001)

• 75%
• 2001
• Music

Keiko Matsui may have won a few Smooth Jazz Awards, but the Japanese- born, classically influenced keyboardist's music is not jazz--at least not if your definition of jazz includes swinging, the blues, and improvisation, all of which are in relatively short supply in this nearly 90-minute performance (plus DVD bonus features, including an interview with the artist). Not that it matters, really. Whatever you call the style--"contemporary instrumental" seems as good a term as any--Matsui is one of its more appealing, and certainly most popular, exponents.