Shigeru Kawai SK-EX - Jazz Trio

HeartKeys

I saw this video below in my YouTube feed, and enjoyed the sound of this Shigeru Kawai SK-EX.

My best way to describe the tone of this particular SK-EX, and pretty common amongst the SK series, including my SK-2, is "creamy." It has a creamy sound. When you strike it hard, it doesn't have as much of a piercing as say, many Yamaha's I've played. And the midrange meanwhile sounds clearer than say, many Steinways I've played, which has more of a blending tone.

It's interesting to see this piano used for the jazz trio. For my personal taste, I would use the Yamaha CFX for the crescendo parts (my experience with Yamahas is they never lack that raw, "unmannered" sound that I sometimes love), and use the SK-EX for the solo parts, where I think it shines best. Overall though the SK-EX here has a fantastic dynamic range.

Anyway. Enjoy!

WieWaldi

HeartKeys It's interesting to see this piano used for the jazz trio. For my personal taste, I would use the Yamaha CFX for the crescendo parts (my experience with Yamahas is they never lack that raw, "unmannered" sound that I sometimes love), and use the SK-EX for the solo parts, where I think it shines best. Overall though the SK-EX here has a fantastic dynamic range.

My guess is, reality is much more pragmatic. A grand piano is not that easy to move and if some musicians meet in a studio with a grand, they use whatever they find - a high quality grand presumed.

I don't know if this specific Jazz trio owns the studio and the grand. Just looking at the previews of their videos, they are using this studio often, but not for every recording. In an earlier video (8 yr ago), I could see a Yamaha grand.

Other YouTube/garage bands seem to own a studio (e.g. Martin Miller band), not sure about Boyce Avenue and others. But I am quite sure, many of the bands have connections to a preferred studio and they are renting it again and again. In this case, they are simply using the grand piano that is there, and not thinking about a specific Steinway/Yamaha/Kawai/Bösendorfer/Fazioli/Younameit.

WieWaldi

HeartKeys I would use the Yamaha CFX for the crescendo parts

I often hear, the Yamaha has this bright character. This "cutting through" sound, especially useful in a band setup together with other instrument. I think for every instrument it is a welcome bonus to have a "cutting through" sound. But if every instrument has this "cutting through" character, doesn't this property cancel out, then?

TLH21

HeartKeys It has a creamy sound. When you strike it hard, it doesn't have as much of a piercing as say, many Yamaha's I've played. And the midrange meanwhile sounds clearer than say, many Steinways I've played

Interesting. I only listened to this through a laptop speaker but to my ears, the softer playing sounded more like a digital piano than an acoustic whereas the louder passages most certainly had that acoustic ring. Perhaps more an effect of the speaker than reflective of the instrument's sound.

Pallas

This is currently my favorite piano. I would call the tone achieved in your video "buttery." I didn't get to try the SK-EX in person. The dealer near me showed me only an SK-2 and 3. But I fell in love with this piano from this video series. Every time I hear the bass, I get a full body euphoria response (hair standing on end, tingles, tears). If I could pick any piano on the planet, I would take the one from this video, but no doubt it would not sound this way in my house. 😜

HeartKeys

@WieWaldi based on their videos I've seen another Shigeru Kawai as well, and some keyboard accessories that are Kawai. That said, it's a wonderful sounding piano, including for the piece they played.