Gordon
Well-known member
Last night my wife and I saw Keiko Matsui at the Blues Alley in Washington, D.C.
Last time we did not dine at the club ( had snacks last time) but went out after the show. Last night we dined at the club. We arrived about 6:30 for an 8 oclock show. The food was fair to mid-land but didn't want to make me stop eating. Being from MD, I thought I'd try the crab cakes. Not too bad. Not a lot of filler and large chunks of crab.
Keiko was much tinier than I imagined. She is a 50 year old woman who looks like she may be 30. I find it hard to imagine her very small hands can dance across the keyboard as she so ably does.
She played a few of her notable tunes which were very faithful to the recordings I have of her. She mentioned the disaster in Japan a couple of times and there was a heartfelt compassion from the audience which could not be denied. We probably have no comprehension of the magnitude of the disaster which struck that country (9-11 excluded).
She also played several cuts from her new CD, which I actually thought was overdone just abit. Nothing wrong with promoting a new cut, but she has a lot of music she did not play and the audience wanted to hear more of them. She also only played for about 70 minutes. The show started late due to a technical malfunction in the sound system. I have been to the venue a couple times before and most artists played at least 90 minutes and I frankly felt a bit short changed.
What she did play was very well done and the band was a very good blend of musicians. Nobody really stood out except for perhaps the sax player. There was an obvious vibe going on between her and him. What a great sax player! Especially if he had something going on the side!!
All in all, a good, decent and entertaining show. If your into her style of music I would highly recommend attending!!
Gordon
Last time we did not dine at the club ( had snacks last time) but went out after the show. Last night we dined at the club. We arrived about 6:30 for an 8 oclock show. The food was fair to mid-land but didn't want to make me stop eating. Being from MD, I thought I'd try the crab cakes. Not too bad. Not a lot of filler and large chunks of crab.
Keiko was much tinier than I imagined. She is a 50 year old woman who looks like she may be 30. I find it hard to imagine her very small hands can dance across the keyboard as she so ably does.
She played a few of her notable tunes which were very faithful to the recordings I have of her. She mentioned the disaster in Japan a couple of times and there was a heartfelt compassion from the audience which could not be denied. We probably have no comprehension of the magnitude of the disaster which struck that country (9-11 excluded).
She also played several cuts from her new CD, which I actually thought was overdone just abit. Nothing wrong with promoting a new cut, but she has a lot of music she did not play and the audience wanted to hear more of them. She also only played for about 70 minutes. The show started late due to a technical malfunction in the sound system. I have been to the venue a couple times before and most artists played at least 90 minutes and I frankly felt a bit short changed.
What she did play was very well done and the band was a very good blend of musicians. Nobody really stood out except for perhaps the sax player. There was an obvious vibe going on between her and him. What a great sax player! Especially if he had something going on the side!!
All in all, a good, decent and entertaining show. If your into her style of music I would highly recommend attending!!
Gordon
