Kei Akagi's newly released CD, "Palette," on the Videoarts Music label, uses the often overdone piano trio format for powerful explorations. While many pianists range across styles because they have no sound of their own, Akagi plays with a consistent voice that is strong enough to express itself in a variety of textures.
Akagi's piano playing creates many different invigorating sounds: explosive on his original "Needle Play"; breakneck on John Coltrane's "Lazy Bird"; reflective on his "Autumns Past"; and straight-out sad on the solo "Here's to Life."
As a sideman to Miles Davis and Stanley Turrentine, among others, Akagi has no shortage of solid experience. Though he has lived in the States for many years, and played on countless CDs, for this work he put together two trios from the cream of Tokyo's jazz scene. Tomokazu Sugimoto on bass and Tamaya Honda on drums have a more straight-ahead drive, while bassist Nobuyoshi Ino and Hiroshi Murakami on drums establish a slower tempo for the more emotive pieces.