Legacies

グラミー賞を8回受賞しているコンポーザー/アレンジャー/バンドリーダーとして有名なオファリルの新作がリリース。

本作では、ピアノの素晴らしいソロ演奏と、息子のドラマー、ザック・オファリル、ベーシストのリアニー・マテオとのダイナミックなトリオ演奏を織り交ぜた9曲のセットで、彼のピアニストの能力に再び重点を置いている!
バド・パウエル(「Un Poco Loco」)、セロニアス・モンク(「Well, You Needn't」)、ハービー・ハンコック(「Dolphin Dance」)、カーラ・ブレイ(「Utviklingssang」)、父チコ・オファリル(「Pure Emotion」)、プエルトリコの作曲家ペドロ・フロール(「Obsession」)、自身の「Blue State Blues」などの魅力的なレパートリーを披露。

Pianist, composer, arranger, and bandleader Arturo OFarrill hasnt cut a piano trio album since 2005s Live in Brooklyn. All told, hes released only two and the solo piano album The Noguchi Sessions in 2012. Writing, leading, and arranging for two big bands is not only time consuming, but for most, a musical mindset removed from the piano trio. OFarrill will tell you he is a jazz pianist first, and everything else emerges from that. Legacies for Blue Note showcases his playing and interpretive skills in alternating solo and trio configurations, performing both historic jazz tunes and originals. On the trio selections, he is accompanied by his son, drummer Zack OFarrill, and upright bassist Liany Matero. The set opens with what may be the knottiest, most abstract version of Herbie Hancocks "Dolphin Dance." It sounds like musical cubism. The infectious melody is never fully articulated, and after quoting it in the opening, OFarrill deconstructs the harmony, stretches the rhythm, and turns a breezy midtempo groover into a knotty improvisation. The intro to Thelonious Monks "Well, You Neednt" would likely make its composer smile. Performing solo, OFarrill employs a classically flavored opening that offers counterpoint and bluesy bop lyricism before introducing the earworm melody. His arpeggios run in octaves across the changes, altering the rhythm. This track, its own musical puzzle piece, is worth the purchase price on its own. Interestingly, the trio version of "Blue State Blues," an original that initially appeared on 2009s Risa Negra, isnt that different from its predecessor, but its a tad more dramatic, if thats possible. The pianist sets a faster tempo, then explores its harmony percussively as if he were playing a bop descarga. Zack double-times his father on hi-hat, snare, and kick drum, and Matero bridges their communication with his fluid phrasing and massive tone. The standard "Darn That Dream" sounds like it was arranged by Art Tatum, as OFarrill playing solo careens across swing, bop, classical, and post-bop with dazzling dexterity and indefatigable imagination without sacrificing the requisite elegance in the tunes DNA. He follows with a trio read of former boss Carla Bleys glorious "Utviklingssang." The original is a slow, bluesy dirge; this trio version sees the pianist assert the melody at twice the tempo, then shift the blues roots toward gospel and soul, all while extrapolating its layered harmony with real drama. Played solo, Sonny Rollins "Doxy" is rendered with the same mischievous approach to blues. OFarrill stacks notes and chords, making his tempos stretch like rubber bands, while his phrasing highlights the tunes harmonic subtleties and swings like mad. The set closes with a burning trio version of Bud Powells "Un Poco Loco." OFarrills right hand is wildly dexterous, laying down dazzling arpeggios even as his left hand engages the bassist and drummer in rhythmic counterpoint. Legacies is a weighty, provocative album that offers fans a deep, intimate portrait of a truly exceptional piano technician, improviser, and interpreter. ~ Thom Jurek