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The world of contemporary jazz is no stranger to great instrumentalist who collaborate on projects together. Just like the bebop and early swing eras of the past, we have a great engaging synthesis of two great artists on the same instrument with two new releases and a world tour to usher in the New Year. This January in Japan, a great tour begins with two-time Grammy winner Bob James of America and a favorite daughter of Japan, number one female contemporary jazz artist, Keiko Matsui. The new millennium brings a great 30-date tour of four hands piano literature from two very prominent light-jazz artist who are well known for their electric groups but are embarking on an acoustic piano duet format (Bob James fronts Fourplay while Keiko Matsui performs under her own name).

While showing great sensibility and courage to challenge and re-create their music in such an intimate fashion, Bob and Keiko are keeping with the redefining, never-ending experience that is synonymous with the jazz tradition. Like the great duo piano collaboration in the late 70's with Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock or Duke Ellington's duets with Count Basie before them, jazz piano has a growing history of great duo projects. Lest we forget, the Grammy winning self-introspective duo work of Bob Evans ('Conversation's with Myself') during the early sixties. What makes the Matsui / James duo so special is the fact the music will be performed on one piano and bench, not in the double piano context of the aforementioned projects.

If your wondering how two jazz pianist reach a point of experimentation where they work in a duet context usually reserved for classical literature, (Mozart, Bach, Scarlatti, Debussy) you might be surprised to find the answer. This would have to be answered by the artist doing the performance to give us a proper illustration of what we could expect to see during a concert in this medium. The inception of the four-hand project began with an offer from Bob to Keiko when he was planning the concepts of his solo/duet piano works 'Dancing on the Water'. The tune "Ever After" was the product of Bob's commission or offer to Keiko where he asked her to try to create a challenging four-hand composition for the album. James explained in an interview with June Sato (Keiko Matsui's Japanese fan site) that he hoped Keiko would be challenged to create something after working with him in the four hand piano style. In regards to the tune "Ever After," James mentioned what a surprise and gorgeous composition the piece turned out while recording. "Even though I encouraged her, at first she was unsure about whether she could adapt to this way of composing. But I was confident she would enjoy the challenge and I'm so flattered and proud that she would be inspired to write such a beautiful piece for me to play with her on her new album ('Whisper from the Mirror' 2000). Now I'm looking forward to playing it in live performance later this year." Bob James also recalled he has been an admirer of Keiko Matsui's music since he first heard it and liked the difference in style she brought to the piano and keyboards.