Compassion

21世紀のECMを牽引するピアニスト、注目トリオの最高傑作が完成!

「21世紀のECM」を代表するピアニスト、3年ぶりのECM通算8作目は、Pitchforkの2021年の年間ベスト50アルバムにも選出され、各メディアが絶賛した前作『Uneasy』(2021年)に続き、リンダ・メイ・ハン・オー(double-b)、タイショーン・ソーリー(ds)を迎えた実力派トリオによる第2作目。
前作以上にパワーアップしたトリオの演奏は、その信頼関係があるからこそ生み出される創造性、自由で生き生きとしたインタープレイに満ちた、暖かさとインパクト、透明感が融合したサウンドを展開。
新たな領域を開拓しようとするアイヤーの意欲を継続させたメロディが魅力的でリズムが爽快なアイヤー自身の曲を中心にしながら、尊敬する先人たちの楽曲も収録している。故チック・コリアへの間接的なオマージュとしてアイヤーが選んだスティーヴィー・ワンダーの「オーヴァージョイド」や、大切な師だった前衛の賢人ロスコー・ミッチェルの旋風を巻き起こす「ノナー」など全編を通じて、直感的な目的の強さで響き渡り、機知に富んだ演奏を聴くことのできるアイヤーの最高傑作といえる1枚。
アルバム・タイトル『コンパッション』=『思いやり』というタイトルについてのアイヤーおのコメント:「苦しみの中で芸術を創るときに経験する不安は、決して消えることはないし、消えるべきでもない。その緊張は、あらゆる段階において創作過程を形作っている。その緊張と対をなすもの、その呼びかけに対する応答は、人々とともに、人々のために、人々の間で音楽を作るという若返りの感覚である。私は、タイショーンとリンダから限りないインスピレーションを受けている…私たちは、ステージの上で、世界の中で、コミュニティと出会いの空間で、この音楽を発展させたのだ」。
アル―ジ・アフタブ、シャザード・イズマイリーと共演アルバム『Love In Exile』が、第66回グラミー賞にて、最優秀オルタナティヴ・ジャズ・アルバム、最優秀グローバル・ミュージック・パフォーマンスの2部門にてノミネートされ、ますます注目が高まる中でのピアノ・トリオの強力盤。

〈パーソネル〉Vijay Iyer(p) Linda My Han Oh(double-b) Tyshawn Sorey(ds)
2022年5月、ニューヨーク、オクテイヴン・オーディオにて録音

Compassion is the sophomore set from the Vijay Iyer-led trio with bassist Linda May Han Oh and drummer Tyshawn Sorey for ECM, following 2021s Uneasy. Compassion was co-produced by the pianist and Manfred Eicher. Its songs embrace pain, joy, pleasure, and suffering, yet are articulated with openness and equanimity. According to Iyers liner notes, the players developed their music on-stage. Iyer composed nine of the sets 12 tracks. Half are from recent performance projects -- "Maelstrom," "Tempest," and "Panegyric," from Tempest, are dedicated to the victims of the pandemic -- like the Celebrate Brooklyn Festival. Another three, "Ghostrumental," "It Goes," and "Where I Am," are drawn from 2022s Everywhere I Go, an ensemble project inspired by writings of poet Eve L. Ewing. "Prelude Orison" comes out of "For My Father," a classically tinged elegy for Iyers father premiered in 2022 by pianist Sarah Rothenberg. The albums three covers seemingly glance in the rearview even as they journey forward. The title-track opener is introduced by 55 seconds of Sorey carefully and spaciously working his drum kit. When Iyer and Oh enter, they do so with graceful chords, as if offering a processional. The theme shifts, altering dynamics and tempo, transforming itself into a whirlwind before whispering to a close. "Arch," for Archbishop Desmond Tutu, enters with a rippling, syncopated scalar piano vamp that illuminates a dramatic chord progression. Sorey punctuates with fills and breaks on snare and hi-hat as Oh responds harmonically and rhythmically. Her solo is physical, dazzling even; it becomes the hub for the tunes assorted tonal voices. The reading of Stevie Wonders "Overjoyed" was inspired by Chick Coreas performance during his final livestream. It was developed on the loaned piano Corea used for it. During the albums final third, the musicians deliver one of the most creative, locked-in improvisations on the record. The stillness in "Prelude: Orison" softly, spaciously quotes from "Nature Boy" before deliberately illuminating vulnerable resonance in each note, emerging into each deliberately placed chord voicing which is then underscored by Ohs poignant solo. This version of Roscoe Mitchells oft-recorded "Nonaah" is a mere two-and-a-half minutes long -- a la the Art Ensemble of Chicagos on Fanfare for the Warriors -- it captures the detailed structural architecture then buoys it with humor, physicality, and precision. "Free Spirits - Drummers Song" resurrects John Stubblefields classic cut as performed by Mary Lou Williams on an album of the same title. The trio delivers a similar knotty, joyful back-and-forth interplay while enthusiastically extending its harmonic reach before emerging with a two-measure section of Geri Allens "Drummers Song" -- a tune they cut in full on Uneasy. Sorey inventively bridges, then dances around piano ostinato and driving bassline with sharp articulation as the group weave the rest into a careening, joyful whole. Compassion is a hefty companion to Uneasy. Musically, its deeper and wider. Their mature group invention is heightened by their playing together live. They bring a fresh, intensely interactive, seemingly time-elasticizing approach to the jazz piano trio that is at once bracingly kinetic, intimate, and lyrical. ~ Thom Jurek