year/2017
country/UK
label/Far Out Recordings (FARO196LP)

現代ブラジリアン・ジャズ最高峰の実力者!あのBaden Powellの息子でパリを拠点にインターナショナルな活動をみせるピアニスト=Philippe Baden Powellの最新作が登場!!


Philippe Baden Powell。偉大なるギタリスト/コンポーザー、Baden Powellを父に持つピアニスト/作曲家である。パリに生まれ、現在もパリを拠点にしながら世界中のあちこちでレコーディングやライブに参加し、その非凡な才能を存分に発揮。近年だけをみても、サンパウロの一流ジャズミュージシャンと共演した『LUDERE』、Quique Sinesi直系として知られるアルゼンチンの女流ギタリスト、Cecilia Zabalaとのデュオ作、そして2016年末にはMelody Gardot&Pierre Aderneのサポートとして来日を果たすなど、その活動は実に多彩。そのいずれもで非常に高い水準の作品/演奏を披露し、にわかに現代ブラジリアン・ジャズのキーマンとして注目を集め始めている。

そんなPhilippeの最新作は、精力的なリイシュー・ワークスから、Azymuthのようなレジェンダリーな存在までをプロデュースする、UKのFar Outからのリリース。レーベル・カラーを反映してかこれまで以上に様々なスタイルの楽曲にチャレンジした、キャリアにおける分岐点ともいえる作品へと仕上がっている。

Donatoファンなら思わずニヤリのポップなメロディと、リズミカルなタッチ、そしてVerocaiやDeodatoを髣髴とさせるパーカッション、ホーンズを入れたアレンジメントが極上のレイドバック感覚を提供してくれる「Vamos Donatear? 」に始まり、ベルギーのジャズ・ヴォーカリスト、David Linxのラップをフィーチャアしたネオ・ソウル・ライクな「Notes Over The Poetry 」、David Linxのスキャットをフィーチャアした「Hues 」、Philippeと同じくフランスを拠点に活動するブラジル人女性シンガー、パウラ・テッセール参加の「Recado pra você 」、Egberto Gismontiの娘であるBianca Gismontiに捧げた「Salvadora」、自らヴォーカルをとる「Quem Sabe? 」…。なかでも美しいメロディを端正に奏でていく「For You To Know」は本作のなかでのハイライトといえる出来栄えだろう

Robert Glasperの登場以降、ジャズは再び世界のポピュラー・ミュージックの最前線に躍り出た。Kamasi Washingtonや黒田卓也といったミュージシャン達が自らの音楽性をジャズによって拡張させたように、サンバやボサノヴァ、MPBといった自身のルーツとジャズを結びつけることでフPhilippeも自らの音楽を拡張しつつある。2017年、大きな旋風を巻き起こしそうな南米産ジャズの中心に、間違いなく、この作品も位置することになるだろう。

A1. Chica
A2. Vamos Donatear?
A3. Notes Over The
A4. Recado pra você
B1. For You to Know
B2. Hues
B3. Salvadora
B4. State of Music

Philippe Baden Powell (son of Brazilian musical legend, Baden Powell de Aquino) is reinventing Brazilian jazz in the lineage of his father’s generation. Balancing the classical with the spiritual, the cinematic with the introspective, and sensitivity with a distintly Brazilian groove, Notes Over Poetry, a new album for Far Out Recordings, calls upon the inspiration of the many musical and artistic greats Philippe has been surrounded by throughout his life.

“The great Brazilian poet and old family friend, Vinicius de Moraes used to say that ‘life is the art of encounter’, and that is what this album is about.” A nomadic upbringing - moving between Rio, Paris and the coincidently named German city of Baden-Baden, as well as touring internationally alongside his father and brother, provided boundless encounters with inspirational figures, too many to name. Touring also gave Philippe his first taste of life in the spotlight: recorded when he was just thirteen, a sold out show alongside his father thirteen, a sold out show alongside his father and brother at Sala Cecília Meireles in Rio De Janeiro, would become the 1996 album Baden Powell & Filhos.

Classically Brazilian in its roots, but global in its outlook, Notes Over Poetry sits as comfortably next to Tom Jobim’s ‘Wave’ as it does to Robert Glasper’s ‘Black Radio’. Vamos Donatear - a track dedicated to the great Joao Donato - is hot, fluid samba-jazz in the vein of the Brazilian legend himself, while the equally groovy Chica hosts punchy horn arrangements reminiscent of masterpieces by Arthur Verocai and Eumir Deodato. With lyrics in English, title track and the satin-soft ‘State Of Music’ lean toward the cooler climate of North American Hip/Hop and RnB, while ‘For You To Know’ is a spellbinding syrup of deep-jazz, flaunting Philippe’s innate talent for writing powerfully emotive melody and harmony.

To his father, Philippe attributes key characteristics which have enriched and guided him in his professional life: “He transmitted to me the passion and commitment indispensable to any artist.” With his father he also shares an innate pull towards collaboration as key to the creative process. “I can’t remember a time making music just by myself, I’ve always felt like a kid with toys waiting for friends to come and play.” Credit is indeed due to the musicians on the album, many of whom are legendary artists in their own right: French jazz drummer André Ceccarelli, who has worked with everyone from Aretha Franklin to Michel Legrande; prolific Belgian jazz vocalist David Linx; and Afro-Brazilian percussion master Ruca Rebordão.

Today we are in the midst of a global revival of jazz as an art-form capable of traversing its once tired image as music for an older generation, with the emergence of artists like Kamasi Washington, Shabaka Hutchings and Takuya Kuroda. Parallel to this, from MPB (Musica Popular Brasiera) to Samba, Bossa-Nova and Tropicalia, new generations of music lovers are rediscovering Brazilian music from the 60’s onwards. Philippe Baden Powell’s music perfectly reflects Brazil’s huge and unique contribution to the global jazz landscape, and with Notes Over Poetry, set for release in Spring 2017, he presents a milestone release in his career as a torchbearer for a new wave of Brazilian artists.