Behind the Tea Chronicles

After releasing 2018s utterly wonderful Criterion of the Senses, an homage to late-70s smooth soul, contemporary jazz, and funk, Ed Motta took five years to realize his next direction. The Brazilian multi-instrumentalist, producer, bandleader, composer, arranger, and icon has, for more than three decades, offered kaleidoscopic combinations and reinventions of the sounds, styles, and genres that influenced him. But Motta doesnt merely utilize them, he invents new uses for them as aesthetic touchstones in a vast musical vocabulary and vision. His creative persona is a highly individualized sum total of the music he loves, approaches, composes, and plays. On Behind the Tea Chronicles, Motta brings his lifelong love of movie and television soundtracks under his already large creative umbrella. He hired an all-star cast of Brazilian studio aces including bassist Alberto Continentino, pianist/keyboardist/musical director Michel Limma, and guitarist Joao Oliveira. Motta recorded backing vocals in Los Angeles, horns in Detroit (directed by Kamau Kenyatta, Gregory Porters producer), and strings in Prague by the Czech Republics FILMharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Adam Klemens. A sextet and strings fuel the opener, "Newsroom Customers." Limma threads together Rhodes, grand piano, and funky clavinet buoyed by Mottas xylophone fills. They elasticize the tunes harmonic center and rhythmic flow. Mottas smooth tenor vocal is cultivated, joining together jazzy soul and airy polished funk around a hip lyric that namechecks Philip Marlowe. "Slumberland" is a sweeping midtempo groover introduced by Cristina Bragas crystalline harp, strings, drums, piano, and harpsichord. When horns and guitars enter, the tempo jumps, revealing the seam where 1980s film soundtracks, Joe Jacksons classy pop, and Steely Dans Aja meet; for his part, Motta transforms them into something wholly other with backing vocals provided by Philip Ingram and Paulette McWilliams. "Safely Far" joins yacht rock, smooth soul, and disco. Governed by a bumping funk bassline, Motta and the backing vocal chorus soar above celebratory horns. The pulsing, carnivalesque "Of Good Strain" finds him accompanied only by Limmas organ, piano, and Rhodes under a noirish lyric. "Shot in the Park" is a slippery, midtempo jazz ballad layered with three lead guitars (Motta is in the right channel), horns, and Ingram and McWilliams. Swinging out of the gate, it features a lovely flute solo from Marcelo Martins and is gently kissed by the influences of Ben Sidran and Michael Franks, though Motta adapts them to more cinematic ends. His own funky clavinet introduces "Deluxe Refuge," an uptempo, elegant samba-jazz groover. Motta and his singers offer syncopated, staggered phrasing in verses and refrains above the cascading trombone section. Furthermore, Limmas killer post-bop Rhodes solo adds heft and dimension. Due to ambitious composition and complex yet audibly uncluttered charts, Behind the Tea Chronicles moves farther afield than any recording in Mottas catalog -- including Poptical, AOR, and Perpetual Gateways. Here he dissects his musical roots, repurposes them, and makes what he needs to create a jazz-pop masterpiece. ~ Thom Jurek

気品溢れるストリングスがアクロバティックな動きをみせる滑り出しから一気に引き込まれてしまうエジ・モッタの新しい世界。5年ぶりとなるこの新作、弦はプラハで、管はデトロイトに赴いて録音するなど徹底した音作りへのこだわりが奏功し、美しく変化に富んだテクスチャーが浮かび上がってくる。祝祭感溢れるスムース・ソウル"Safety Far"、サーカス音楽風のノワールなワルツ"Of Good Strain"、ポーレット・マクウィリアムズやフィリップ・イングラムといったソウル・レジェンドと密に絡み合うスティーリー・ダン調の"Shot In The Park"など聴きどころがありすぎ。掛け値なしの傑作だ。
bounce (C)桑原シロー

2013年に発表したその名もまさに『AOR』というアルバムからの流れを汲んだブラジリアンAORの新たな金字塔が登場!先行公開されていたM2"Slumberland"はエジ・モッタ自身がリスペクトするSteely Danへのオマージュ的な要素が随所に伺え、事前期待値は充分。タイトなドラミング、キレのあるカッティング、メロウなエレピを洗練されたサウンド・プロダクションで聴かせる一枚。シティポップの大コレクターという側面を持つ彼。我々日本人のツボを知り尽くしているのではないかというぐらい、この手の音楽好きには間違いなしの作品。
intoxicate (C)栗原隆行