A Paradise In The Hold＜数量限定盤/Virgin Pearl Vinyl＞

UKジャズシーンの天才トランペッターYazz Ahmed
最新アルバムとカタログ作品3タイトルが数量限定カラー・ヴァイナルで発売!

伝統音楽やフォークロアに重ね合わせ、二つの文化的背景を表現

1950年代に活躍したトランペット奏者のTerry Brownを祖父に持ち、Radiohead、Lee Scratch Perry、Swing Out Sisterなどの作品にも貢献したバーレーン出身のトランぺッター、Yazz Ahmedが最新作『A Paradise In The Hold』をカラー盤でリリース!
バーレーン系イギリス人女性である自身の経験を、伝統音楽やフォークロアに重ね合わせ、二つの文化的背景を表現した全10曲を収録。イノベーションと伝統が織りなす壮大なスケールの作品を通して、彼女は古代のリズムと現代の演奏技術を見事に融合させた。
本作は、バーレーンの真珠取りの悲哀歌や、アラブ人女性の強さ、伝統的な女性ドラムサークルのリズムなどに敬意を表したものだが、同時に、10年にわたるYazz自身の自己発見への旅路という物語でもある。さらに今作では、Yazzが英語とアラビア語の両方で歌詞を書くという、初の試みにも挑戦しており、彼女の豊かなサウンドに新たな次元が加わっている。共演者には、エスニック・トランスの女王Natacha Atlasをはじめ、パーカッショニストのCorrina Silvesterといった豪華コラボレーターたちが名を連ねている。

A Paradise in the Hold is trumpeter/composer Yazz Ahmeds fourth album as a leader. Ten years in the works, she realizes what she began on a trip to Bahrain in 2014, resulting in 2015s commissioned suite "Alhaan Al Siduri." She studied the work and travel songs, hymns, and chants of Bahrains pearl divers, the characters in the Epic of Gilgamesh, and the creative power of Arab women. Ahmed uses elements from the earlier composition in these ten atmospherically intense tracks that crisscross modern and electric jazz with Eastern folk sounds and even dubby club music. She realized the project with an invited studio band and guest vocalists including Natacha Atlas, Randolph Matthews, Alba Nacinovich, and Birgitte Beraha, marking the first time Ahmed has worked with singers. The droning intro of "She Stands on the Shore" emerges with airy electronics and flugelhorn alongside Samy Bishais violin before Atlas begins singing from Gilgamesh about the goddess Siduri, who becomes this projects Muse. The rhythm section -- vibes, drums, electric piano, percussion, brooding electric guitar, bass, and vibraphone -- breathes together as George Crowleys bass clarinet follows a glorious flugelhorn solo with modal exploration in intimate post-bop fusion. The ten-minute instrumental title cut is easily the most elaborate composition here. It relates the seafaring adventures of the pearl divers as they return home with precious cargo. Above darkly tinged atmospherics, Ahmeds ensemble weaves electric, 21st century jazz with slipstream Arabic folk. The haunting, "Tears of the Mermaid" uses lyrics inspired by Rumi to relate the tale of a pearl diver drawn to the bottom of the sea by a mermaid; its sung in duet by Beraha and Matthews. Ahmeds flugelhorn floats and hovers with the singers. The wonderfully mysterious "Her Light" features the bandleaders own lyrics -- sung alternately by Atlas and Beraha in different cadences. Its inspired by centuries of Arabic womens choirs and opens with a driving Middle Eastern dance before breaking first into spectral electric post-bop before keys, drums, and percussion evoke junglism before Ahmed takes a labyrinthine solo. "Into the Night" is a folk-inspired modal jazz tune complete with vocal ululations, conversation, and handclaps as Ahmed and percussionist Corrine Silvester create a hypnotic, circular flow. "Though My Eyes Go to Sleep, My Heart Does Not Forget You" has lead vocals by Nacinovich. Her protagonist is a pearl divers beloved anxiously awaiting his return. The music stitches Eastern harmony to syncopated bass and drum, percussion, loops, and handclaps. Bass clarinet joins two flugelhorns in framing the singers voice in the ensuing maelstrom of tension. Closer "Waiting for the Dawn" grows directly out of "She Stands on the Shore," though Ahmed balances the nearly droning dubwise rhythm to an Eastern modality in elegant post-bop. Ahmeds catalog thus far has been flawless, and as enchanting as it is forward-thinking musically and philosophically. That said, A Paradise in the Hold is a masterpiece, a work of tremendous sensitivity and creative insight brought to life by a musical visionary capable of advancing and remaking 21st century jazz. ~ Thom Jurek

レディオヘッドやリー・ペリー作品への参加歴もある魅惑のアラビック・サイケジャズ・トランペッター:ヤズ・アハメドの2025年作。1950年代に活躍したトランペット奏者:Terry Brownを祖父に持つ彼女は、ジャズとアラビアの民族音楽をクロスオーバーさせた独特の世界観と音作りが絶妙。本作は、バーレーン系イギリス人女性である自身の経験を基に、2つの文化的背景を表現した全10曲。エスニック・トランスの女王:Natacha Atlas、パーカッショニスト:Corrina Silvesterら参加した古代のリズムと現代の演奏技術が昇華された壮大なスケールで描かれる融合作。ええやんええやん。
intoxicate (C)黒田"ハイプ"朋規