Wrong Side Of Town＜数量限定盤＞

美しい旋律を奏でるUKジャズ・シーンのキーボード奏者 ジョー・アーモン・ジョーンズが辛辣なメッセージを放つ、ダブEPをリリース!

ジャズ、ダブ、ヒップホップ、ファンク、ソウルを融合させ、自由かつ実験的な活動を続けているロンドンのプロデューサー、作曲家、キーボード奏者のJoe Armon-Jones。彼はまた、マーキュリー賞受賞バンドEzra Collectiveのメンバーでもあるが、今回は、UKラッパーHak Bakerとサックス演奏者Nubya Garciaとタッグを組み、新作EP『Wrong Side Of Town』を自身のレーベル〈Aquarii Records〉よりリリースする。先行シングルとして公開されたタイトル曲は、ロンドンが高額になり過ぎているという社会問題をテーマにしており、Hak Bakerの実体験が元になっている。参加ミュージシャンには、Black Midiのドラム演奏者Morgan Simpsonや、Nubiyan Twistのベース演奏者Luke Wynter。また、Ezra Collectiveのサックス演奏者James MollisonもNubya Garciaと共にサックスを演奏している。

A keyboardist/producer/composer based in the U.K., Joe Armon-Jones is a member of the Mercury Prize-winning jazz-hop outfit Ezra Collective. Thats only one of his musical identities, however. Armon-Jones is active in scenes ranging from jazz and hip-hop to garage and dub reggae. The latter offers the prime musical focus for his Wrong Side of Town EP, issued on the musicians Aquarii label. The approach is decidedly old-school (digital dub productions have seldom sounded this organic) on the 12" vinyls four tracks. The A-side features a lead vocal by Hak Baker. A London-based singer, writer, and rapper, his Caribbean roots are primary: His mother is Jamaican, his father Grenadian. Armon-Jones is flanked here by a top-shelf cast. The rhythm section pairs journeyman bassist Luke Wynter with Black Midi drummer Morgan Simpson, Ezra Collective bandmate James Mollison, and Nubya Garcia on saxophones. Oh, yes, and lots of reverb and echo chamber. The set-opening A-side finds Baker alternatively rapping and chanting atop a steamy dubwise progression from Armon-Jones organ and electric piano, which are buoyed by the rhythm section. The horns float in behind as Baker starts to relate a lyric expression concerning circumstances of dispossession, inequality, struggle, resistance, and life in the street. The dark, steamy, four-minute groover is expanded on the vinyl with the instrumental "Dub Side of Town." "Nubyas Side of Town" is led by the popular bandleader and tenor saxophonist. She delivers the melody with her trademarked glorious tone in harmonic phrasing that references the legendary dub saxophonist Deadly Headley, even as she integrates Eastern modes, post-bop, and R&B into her slow, winding, delivery framed by Armon-Jones wafting organ, rocksteady drums, and Wynters constant, pulsing bass throb. Closing instrumental "Wrong Side of the Rhodes" offers a knotty contrapuntal intro between Armon-Jones and the rhythm section. He begins circling around a phrase that eventually transforms into a quote from the refrain of Classics IVs "Spooky." In his wonderful solo, he employs striking arpeggios, lithe chord voicings, and elegantly syncopated phrasing. Simpson shifts, adding a Latin tinge to the beat as Wynter stays grounded with the vamp and changes. While almost always unpredictable, Armon-Jones is remarkably consistent in his dedication and musical application in each project. As such, Wrong Side of Town is no exception: its dark, deep, dubby. and full of delightful surprises. ~ Thom Jurek