Griot: This Is Important!

様々なミュージシャンの生の証言を記録した異色作品!

過去の物語、回想、出来事を歴史研究のために関係者から直接話を聞き取り、記録としてまとめる西アフリカ伝統のオーラル・ヒストリー「グリオ」。本作はジェレミー・ペルトのジャズに対する貪欲な好奇心が、様々なジャズミュージシャンに自らインタビューすることによって、その記録をこのCDに収めた異色作品。

ベーシストのポール・ウエストから始まり、ピアニストのラリー・ウィリス、ハロルド・メイバーン、バーサ・ホープ、サックス奏者のJDアレン、ボーカルのレネ・マリー、トランペットのアンブローズ・アキンムシーレ等へのインタビューを通じて、彼らの話言葉にインスパイアーされた感情をペルト自身が曲に書きとめ演奏している。

パーソネルはヴィクター・ゴールド(p)、ビセンテ・アーチャー(b)等、気の合ったメンバー。短いインタビューの後の感情が素直に出て興味深い。全曲で聴くことができる落ち着きのある堂々とした安定感のあるトランペットプレイが印象的である。

録音は2020年9月、ニュージャージーのルディ・ヴァン・ゲルダースタジオにて。

A companion piece to his 2021 interview book Griot: Examining the Lives of Jazzs Great Storytellers, Griot: This Is Important! finds trumpeter Jeremy Pelt playing songs inspired by some of his most potent interviews. Here, we get intimate and thought-provoking insights from many of the artists featured in the book, including Paul West, JD Allen, Harold Mabern, Rene Marie, and others. Each conversation is accompanied by an original work from Pelt and his quintet with vibraphonist Chien Chien Lu, pianist Victor Gould, bassist Vicente Archer, and drummer Allan Mednard. Musically, these are some of the most lyrical and harmonically lush songs Pelt has recorded and work in unison with the spoken interview tracks. Some tracks, including Pelts own introduction to the album, as well as his conversation with pianist Bertha Hope, find him underscoring the words with music. Elsewhere, he presents the conversations on their own without musical accompaniment and then follows with an instrumental track. Many of these conversations delve into issues of racial and cultural identity, and Pelts music is fittingly nuanced. Often his songs reflect the subject matter of the interview, as on Carry Christ Wherever You Are, which follows his conversation with bassist Paul West discussing his Lutheran minister father. Similarly, Pelts A Beautiful (F*cking) Lie follows his interview with vocalist Rene Marie discussing her dissonant feelings surrounding her identity as a black American. While Pelts music certainly stands on its own, the interviews included on Griot: This Is Important! help to frame the deep sense of community and tradition that inspired it. ~ Matt Collar