Matsunaga, Takashi
Ride Five, 2026, CD
Instrument: Piano
Issue: 32.3
Jazz Ruler Type: Ballads, Blues
Performance: 3
Sound: 3
Score: 73
O’s Notes: Japanese pianist and composer Takashi Matsunaga leads a piano-and-bass duo with venerable bassist Christian McBride. They feed off each other’s ideas to create a landscape absent of repetition and full of spontaneous creativity. Their chemistry is apparent on “Pure”, “Time in Motion”, and the soft approach of “Unfolding Drops” & “Untamed Drift”. Overall, we found the modern jazz, instrumental ballads to be relaxing.
Publicist: Kari-On Productions
