Prog (EU)

プログレッシヴ・ポスト・モダン・ジャズ
インディー・ロック
インテリジェント・ポップ

これらの間を漂う魅惑的なピアノ・トリオ,THE BAD PLUSのインターナショナル･デビュー作。
ティーンネイジャーの頃にお互い知り合い、1990年にバンドを結成したが、まだ若く論争ばかりだった3人は
20代をそれぞれの別の街で音楽に携わる仕事をし、あらゆる経験を積み10年後に再会、
ミネアポリスで行ったライヴで3人ともに共通した音楽への熱く強い思いを痛感、ここからTHE BAD PLUSは始まった。
これまでリリースされた4枚のアルバムはどれも喝采を浴び、冒険的なライヴも直感的なセンスの良さが音楽ファンの間で評判。
『どんなスタンダードであれ、ジャズ、そのほか何でも彼らの奏でる音楽は動いていて、力強い…骨に響く。
ホットなプレイヤーでハード･ロックの心を持ったピアノ・トリオだ。』(Rolling Stone誌)
Tear For Fersの名曲『Everybody wants to rule the World』から始まり、
そのほかにもDavid Bowie、Rush,Burt Bacharachのカヴァーなどが、オリジナル曲に加わり収録されているが、
カヴァーというよりも新たに再構築された新しい音楽で、どれもエッジが効き、エネルギーに満ちている、
これぞ最先端をいった21世紀のポスト･モダン・ジャズ！

Presumably the Bad Plus wanted to make a very specific statement when they titled this album Prog. Although there is no confusing its music for what has typically passed for progressive jazz or progressive rock in decades past, Prog embodies the true meaning of the word: it takes music forward -- not just theirs, but music itself. How they do that is relatively simple, despite the music's complexity: they go where they want to go, where others have yet even to consider going. That means throwing out conventional notions of what a jazz piano trio can and should do. That the Bad Plus is comprised of three exemplary musicians -- pianist Ethan Iverson, bassist Reid Anderson and drummer David King -- is never in doubt. Their chops are on display at every turn -- and there are many turns, unexpected and exhilarating ones that produce seismic shifts without losing focus. But they're about more than chops. Where the Bad Plus excel, here even more than previously, is in their ability to make their exemplary musicianship and ingenuity accessible to listeners who might never have come near progressive jazz or jazz-rock fusion back when that term meant such overambitious outfits as Mahavishnu Orchestra and Return to Forever. Much has been made of the Bad Plus' affinity for hard rock, and that affection is undeniable, and not just in Prog's cover of Rush's "Tom Sawyer," the least surprising and shortest-reaching piece of the set. Indeed, even the laid-back opener, a quirky, lazy rethink of Tears for Fears' "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" (oddly released the same month as Patti Smith's cover), and the jerky (in a good way) take on Bacharach/David's "This Guy's in Love with You," stretch further. But the trio's covers (they also do David Bowie's "Life on Mars"), while always fun to listen to, end up losing out to Prog's originals in the inventiveness department. On tracks such as King's "1980 World Champion" and Iverson's "Mint," tempos and tonalities dance madly, and Anderson's compositions, notably "Physical Cities" and the epic "Giant" project a grandness and an eloquence that, even during the airy, quiet moments, constantly cause the listener to question how three musicians could be so fully engaged at every given moment. Anyone who has already decided that jazz is dead, that the great innovators have come and gone, needs to listen to the Bad Plus to be proven dead wrong. ~ Jeff Tamarkin|

轟音ピアノ・トリオという触れ込みでロック・リスナーからも注目を集めてきた彼らのレーベル移籍第1弾!　プログレッシヴに展開する楽曲はもちろんのこと、今作ではいままでになく抑制の利いたピアノとベース、ドラムが一体となった繊細なインタープレイも美しい。ティアーズ・フォー・フィアーズをはじめ、デヴィッド・ボウイ、バート・バカラックのカヴァーも秀逸です。筋金入りのピアノ・トリオ・ファンもぜひ!
bounce (C)高木 雄一郎