JAZZ REVIEW : Matsui Overcomes Sound Problems at Coach House

It was ironic that the acoustic piano was pushed off to the side of the Coach House stage Saturday to make way for Keiko Matsui’s rack of electric keyboards. When the electronics failed two numbers into Matsui’s show, you could almost here the neglected piano crying out for attention.

Matsui chose to spend the 10-minute delay watching technicians fumbling with wires and switches. Too bad. She’s displayed passion on the acoustic in past concerts. It would have been an opportune time for a spontaneous display of her emotion-driven keyboard style, maybe solo, while the glitch was corrected.

Instead, the crowd had to sit in the dark while sound was restored. Later, Matsui’s shakuhachi -playing husband, Kazu, referred to the incident, looking over to the keyboards and shaking his head, then holding up his wooden flute-like instrument and saying, “much better.”

In any case, once everything was back in working order, Matsui immediately re-established the momentum she had developed with her opening numbers. New selections, pulled from her recent “Night Waltz” recording, showed that she continues to blend impressionistic, New Age backdrops with strong, accessible rhythms and blues references.

With the first two tunes, “Night Waltz” and “Moonlight Sailor,” she showed a taste for more orchestral depth, most of it supplied by electronics, than in her previous efforts. Working to her advantage was a tight, sympathetic band--saxophonist Michael Acosta, guitarist Ron Komie and drummer Bernie Dresel--that added to the depth and tonal color while keeping the rhythms out front.

Matsui’s “The White Gate” worked a Spanish-flavored theme that gave way to a blue-wise synthesizer solo. Acosta used the tune’s more involved rhythms to develop a strong soprano statement that built gradually to a stirring climax. “Under Northern Lights,” the title tune from a previous album, utilized chordal effects from both Komie and Matsui to establish its cool mood.

Kazu joined the group for “Light Above the Trees,” adding eerie, breath-filled shakuhachi tones that ranged from subdued whispers to piercing shrieks. Komie mixed light chords with screaming, metallic runs before the song unwound into an almost mystic conclusion.

Matsui waited until the last number to strap on her shoulder-hung keyboard and step out from behind the bank of electronics. By that time, she’d already shown she could rock hard and heavy and her solo, ending with a long-sustained tone, seemed anti-climatic. Maybe she should have tried the acoustic piano.

Solo acoustic keyboardist Craig Monticone of San Diego opened with a set of his own simplistic tunes with such titles as “Remember,” “Our Love” and “Bittersweet.” Throughout his reserved performance, Monticone tested the fine line between the hypnotic and the somnolent.