Tone Poem

重鎮チャールス・ロイドのバンド、Charles Lloyd&The Marvelsの3年ぶりの新作が登場!

本作はロイドが2015年にブルーノートに復帰してから6作目の作品となり、ザ・マーヴェルスのメンバーである、ビル・フリゼール(g)、グレッグ・レイズ(g)、ルーベン・ロジャース(b)、エリック・ハーランド(ds)を迎えた全編インストゥルメンタル・アルバムでマーヴェルス名義では『I Long To See You』(2016),ルシンダ・ウィリアムスをアルバムの半分フィーチャーした『Vanished Gardens』に続く3作目。ジャズ、ブルース、アメリカーナ、カントリー、ロックといったジャンルを往来し、スリリングで高揚感のある音楽のハイブリット作に仕上げた。オーネット・コールマンの他にも、セロニアス・モンク、レナード・コーエン、ガボール・サボ、ボラ・デ・ニエベなどのカヴァー、そして、ロイドの新曲も収録されている。

アルバムについて、ロイドは「今、私の楽器から鳴る音や声は若い頃にはなかったものです。これらのアンサンブルは、何か新しいものを表現しようとしていて、何かより高い目標を示してくれていると思っています。様々な問題が取り巻くこの世界の中で、声を上げずに傷ついている人がたくさんいます。そういう人々に音楽を届けたいです。地球に無毒で無害でありながら何かに酔いしれることは、曲にして、音にするのに値する素晴らしいことです。」とコメント。ジャズ史に名を刻むようなキャリアでありながら、常に新しいゴールを掲げるロイドの渾身作となっている。

Tone Poem is the third album by saxophonist Charles Lloyds Americana jazz quintet the Marvels -- guitarist Bill Frisell, pedal steel guitarist Greg Leisz, bassist Reuben Rogers, and drummer Eric Harland. Cut over several years in California studios and from a Madrid stage, it comprises six covers and three Lloyd originals. The album marks the first time the band have recorded without singers. At 82, Lloyd is a master of the form who knows what he wants from his sidemen and how to get it. Tone Poem will sound instantly recognizable, but reaches beyond either. Reinventions of two Ornette Coleman classics introduce the set. The composers bluesy feel comes through immediately in Peace as Leisz, Frisell, and Lloyd engage its relaxed, syncopated melody even more slowly than on the original. Lloyds solo underscores the Middle Eastern modalism in Colemans tags as the string players extrapolate on the blues. On Ramblin, Leiszs pedal steel choogles, emulating a train (perhaps the Midnight Flyer out of Lloyds native Memphis). The saxophonist adds a few notes from American folk song Shortnin Bread before grabbing on to Colemans mutant bop head. Frisells playing is all sparking blues and shuffling alongside Leiszs. Harlands martial rim shots could lead a NOLA second line parade, as the jam departs for open spaces. Songwriter Leonard Cohen loved and celebrated traditional country music -- he often carried a copy of Hank Williams collected lyrics on tour. The Marvels version of his Anthem would have earned his deep appreciation. While the string players follow the languid tempo and harmony, Lloyd solos up and down the melody, expanding it incrementally as if it were being imparted to him in a dream. His sensitivity and spiritual empathy are redolent. His Dismal Swamp is a funky soul-jazz wherein he leads the band with punchy flute vamps as Frisell paints the margins with Harland, Leisz, and Rogers roiling the groove. Monks Mood is rendered with lush nocturnal atmospherics as steel and sax share the melody. The pedal steel adds a touch of exotica, but Frisells comping keeps it earthbound. Ay Amor, is a reinvention of Cuban singer, songwriter, and pianist Ignacio Jacinto Villa Fernandez (aka Bola de Nieve). Lloyd and company render it with breezy elegance, poignant emotion, and deep respect. Both Gabor Szabos Lady Gabor and Lloyds Prayer date to the early 1960s when guitarist and saxophonist were with Chico Hamiltons group. On the former, dancing drums and bass meet spiky flute jabs that feed Frisells biting garagey psychedelia. Prayer commences as a spectral ballad featuring Rogers glorious arco playing before Lloyds tenor carries it outside briefly to the tumult that exists beyond the margin. Frisells shard-like chords and Leiszs atmospherics frame Harlands tense tom-tom pulse and muted cymbals. Over nearly nine minutes, it changes shapes several times before the tenor whispers the set out. While the singers on earlier Marvels albums offered ready accessibility, Tone Poem is perhaps more resonant given its consummate musicality and masterful tune curation. ~ Thom Jurek