My Prophet

"21世紀のECM"を牽引するサックス奏者、オデッド・ツールの2年ぶりECM3作目。

■伝説のインド人フルート奏者ハリプラサード・チャウラシアに師事したというユニークな経歴を持つテルアヴィヴ生まれのツール、前作『Isabela』では"21世紀のコルトレーン・カルテット"とも評され、現在最も注目のサックス奏者の一人。
■「ユニークなサックスのささやき」とも呼ばれる滑らかで美しいサックスの音色が本作でも十二分に発揮。
■これまでの作品にも参加していたニタイ・ハーシュコヴィッツ(p)、ペトロス・クランパニス(b)に加え、本作からは新メンバーのブラジル人ドラマー、シラノ・アルメイダが参加。

＜パーソネル＞
Oded Tzur(ts) Nitai Hershkovits(p) Petros Klampanis(double-b) Cyrano Almeida(ds)

Oded Tzur, a Tel Aviv-born, Brooklyn-based saxophonist and composer, released his first two albums for Enjas Yellowbird imprint – 2015s Like a Great River and 2017s Translators Note. While both were inspired, it was his ECM debut, 2020s Here Be Dragons, that showcased an evolving aesthetic balancing composition and lyric group interplay in a weave of spiritual jazz, modal blues, folk music, and post-bop. Two years later, Isabela showcased a striking refinement of the groups improvisational approach. The lineup on My Prophet features all returning members: pianist Nitai Hershkovits, bassist Petros Klampanis, and drummer Cyrano Almeida. There are six tracks, including the brief, ironically titled "Epilogue" that opens the album. The remainder of these compositions are between 7 and 11 minutes. The 45-second "Epilogue" is a haunting call to prayer on a rounded saxophone before segueing into the eight-and-a-half-minute "Child You," where near Eastern folk music seamlessly encounters post-bop with a quick, Viennese waltz tempo. As Hershkovits and Tzur circle one another, the rhythm section advances the tempos reach. The first half of the leaders solo sounds nearly muted until ratcheting up to near growling intensity before Hershkovits commences with a blistering solo that adds angular minor chords and a new bottom for the piece. "A Land Unsown" finds the pianist and bassist initiating the proceeding with a minor, folk-inspired vamp. Tzur whispers in, filling them with a warm, airy melody. Klampanis lyrical bass break is accompanied by soft, high-register notes from the pianist that eventually claim the fore in a dazzling, understated solo. At seven minutes, Tzur restates the melody in a gravelly tone before engaging in bluesy modal conversation with the rhythm section. "Renata" softly emerges with muted tenor and piano lines playing a theme. Tzur, aided by Almeida and Klampanis, adds space and textural dimension before increasing the tempo. Hershkovits opens it up, and Tzur goes full-throated, playing inside and outside the theme as the full band builds tension and intensity as a spiritual jazz mantra before coming back down as the pianist introduces a lush, classically inspired romantic theme that the quartet meander inside of and meditate on until its nadir. The title track spends the majority of its 11-minute duration as a bluesy modal ballad. Klampanis and Hershkovits converse as Almeida brushes accents. Tzurs statement of the melody is soft, inquiring, and reverent, and the pianists bell-like accompaniment is magical. The quartet pulls out the stops on the loping closer, "Last Bike Ride in Paris," as Tzur bridges post-bop with interlocking exchanges with the pianist, whose solo weds lyricism, muscle, and elegance, buoyed by hard swing from the rhythm section. There is not a middling moment on My Prophet. It articulates Tzurs highly original playing and composing methods, offering formally constructed, nuanced compositional bookends, while providing abundant room for his band to engage one another in musical, conversational freedom. Five albums in, Tzur feels like hes just hitting his stride. ~ Thom Jurek