Bag It !

ノルウェイが世界に誇る超絶ドラマー、ポール・ニルセン・ラヴ、ブッゲ・ヴェッセルトフトのベーシストとしてもお馴染みのインゲブライト・フラテン、そしてソニック・ユース～ジム・オルーク関連のコラボでも素晴らしいブロウを披露するスウェーデン人サックス奏者マッツ・グスタフソンによるジャズ・トリオ、ザ・シング。カトー・サルサ・エクスペリエンスからジョー・マクフィーまで、様々な異種格闘技で好事家たちをノックアウトしてきた彼らが、今回はスティーヴ・アルビニ&シェラックとコラボ!何とシカゴまで出向き、スティーヴ・アルビニのエレクトリカル・オーディオ・スタジオでレコーディングを敢行、ミックス&マスタリングはシェラックのボブ・ウェストンが担当。そして毎回驚くようなカヴァーのチョイスでファンを楽しませる彼らが今回選んだのは、巨人デューク・エリントンの名曲「Mystery Song」!そのほか、オリジナルもカバーも、またもどれもが壮絶、そして悶絶します。

The Thing is an avant-jazz power trio whose members include saxophonist Mats Gustafsson, bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, and drummer Paal Nilssen-Love. Bag It! is their 12th album. They are one of the most thrilling bands to see live in any genre -- their previous recordings, fine as some of them are, never seemed to get their "Thingness" -- that quality that comes pouring off the stage -- on tape. Until Bag It!, that is. Engineer Steve Albini is a master when it comes to capturing live gig dynamics in a studio. This set was recorded at his Electrical Audio studio in Chicago, and contains every explosive and humorous tenet this trio lets loose in front of a club or festival audience. It must be said that the Thing aren't a "free jazz" group. They capture the energy and anarchy of punk rock as well as the improvisational power and rhythmic invention of vanguard jazz effortlessly; and they mostly play music outside -- far outside - the jazz canon, with a sax trio's instrumentation complemented by killer power electronics -- they even signify whose playing them (Gustafsson, right channel; Flaten, left channel). The title track is the set's signature. At over nine minutes, it begins with a tentative melody by Gustafsson on baritone, followed by Nilssen-Love's cymbals playing in empty space before things begin to move slightly and slowly with bass entering -- first in solo and then in rhythm-section mode -- to a full-on engagement with the trio roughly four-and-a-half minutes in. The repetitive bass pattern, flying syncopation from Nilssen-Love, and then bleating tenor from Gustafsson take the thing to another realm. He begins playing his own pattern as the rhythm section moves itself off in other directions before it all melts down into a quietly expressive free mode. Other tracks, however, such as "Drop the Gun," (a cover of a 54 Nude Honeys tune), bring the punk thang in your face with a killer four-bar intro played triple time, and Merzbow-worthy electronic noise kicking it full bore. The same goes for the reading of the Ex's "Hidegen Fujnak a Szelek" that opens the album. Gustafsson opens the tune alone with distorted saxophone on full vibrato, sounding out a bad acid-trip dirge before the others join him shouting, screaming, and playing this slow, march-of-death by jazz version of the tune."Hot Doug," a group improvisation, sounds quite literally like Merzbow or Maurizio Bianchi is in the band, but the ballad works so beautifully because of its harmonic tension and the dramatic control over all the elements these players have -- the melody never disappears, the rhythm is always taut, no matter how far left it goes at the margin. That control is evident everywhere in a startling cover of Duke Ellington's "Mystery Song," where the arrangement allows for the full-on history of jazz to be displayed. There is a bonus disc in this set as well: a 30-minute group improv called "Beef Brisket (For Ruby's)." (Ruby's BBQ in Austin, TX is a nearly spiritual sanctuary for the trio: they all wear the establishment's T-shirts when they play live.) What is so remarkable about this piece is that it captures every single quality the trio displays to a live audience in a single studio-recorded track. Its extended improvisation showcases the Thing's mastery of control: its full jazz on stun power, its lyric intricacy, and its ability to produce extreme as well as beautiful textures, and with all aspects of the dynamic rainbow displayed. Bag It! is the album punters should gravitate toward first when they consider the Thing's catalog. ~ Thom Jurek|

この間の9月の大友良英さんとの来日公演も、涙がチョチョ切れるホド素晴らしかったThe Thingの新作です。今作はニルヴァーナの『イン・ユーテロ』を始め此れ迄千枚以上の作品の録音を担った天才エンジニアなのに、未だインディペンデント精神全開でヤッているという真摯な音楽人スティーヴ・アルビニ氏に録音を依頼した為、音盤では中々伝わり難いライヴな空気感が全面に出ていて吉。肉体派マツ・グスタフソンのテナーやP.N.ラヴのカッ飛ばしたドラムの奮闘ぶりに、ヒイヒイと叫ばずにはいられぬワイ!!
intoxicate (C)本橋卓

北欧屈指の異端アヴァン・ジャズ・トリオによる新作。サックスが暴れ狂うお馴染みの轟音ジャズやシカゴ産ポスト・ロック的なナンバー、そしてアルバート・アイラーのカヴァーまでを収録し、混沌の渦はますます加速度を増すばかり。インプロヴィゼーションから生まれる想定外のサウンドを彼ら自身が楽しんでいる様も窺えて、そういう意味でもスティーヴ・アルビニのプロデューサー起用はハマってます。
bounce (C)藤井大樹