Luminant by Jorge Queijo / Hiroki Chiba / Yoshio Machida
"Neither harmony of contemporary music nor free Jazz... more like sounds in nature" (CD Journal, Feb 2016)
Steelpan trio album by a Portuguese drummer Jorge Queijo, a Japanese bassist Hiroki Chiba and a Japanese steelpanist Yoshio Machida. When Jorge Queijo came to play in Japan in 2014 and 2015, these tracks were recorded in Tokyo with these 2 Japanese artists. These tracks are all improvisations. Queijo plays drums and percussions in Jazz music scene to post rock widely. He also directs very unique Gamelan ensemble in Oporto (Ensemble de Gamelao). Very sensitive expression to dynamic beats, his drumming has wide range. Chiba plays double bass with some unique effects. The acoustic bass sound is processed to natural glitch surface of background. Machida plays double tenor steelpans and gamelan (Java gender) in this album. His style is not like Caribbean, more like a style influenced from Asian music; Indian improvisation, Gamelan, Myanmar traditional music. The sound of this trio includes several aspects, some kinds of Jazz, world music, experimental, electronics or natural sounds. Beautiful sound of bass arco (tr2), free and colorful drumming (tr3), Gamelan meets Jazz (tr4), peaceful (try), melancholic melody of steelpan (try). This album has transparent, quiet and aesthetic, reminding ECM artists like Marcin Wasilewski and Colin Vallon.
【日本 x ポルトガルの耽美な音響ジャズ、スティールパン・トリオアルバム】
ポルトガルのJazz からポストロックまでこなす多彩なドラマー=ジョルジュ・ケイジョ、矢野顕子やジム・オルーク等のサポートやrabbitoo、自身のプロジェクト、Kineticでも活躍の千葉広樹 (ダブルベース, エレクトロニクス)、孤高の音響スティールパン奏者=町田良夫によるトリオアルバム。
2014 年、2015 年とジョルジュ・ケイジョ来日時に、即興ライブを収録したアルバム。即興演奏ながらも、タイトな楽曲構成。ベース・アルコの響きが美しい(tr2)、フリーでカラフルなドラミング(tr3)、ガムランmeetsジャズ(tr4)、ピースフルな(tr6)、スティールパンの郷愁を誘うメロディー(tr7)など。ケイジョのジャズの枠組みを超えた多彩で繊細なドラミング、千葉の音響的ベース、町田のメランコリックで甘美なスティールパンのフレーズが織りなす、耽美な世界。北欧ジャズ 〜 ECM 系アーティスト = マルチン・ヴァシレフスキやコリン・ヴァロンにも通ずる透明感あるサウンド。
JORGE QUEIJO (drums, percussion) http://www.jorgequeijo.net
An Oporto based musician, drummer. He moves among the worlds of Africa ancestral percussion, drums, electronic music, free jazz, improvising music, workshop leadership. He received am MMus in Music Leadership from the London Guildhall School of Music and Drama and a BA in Jazz from the Oporto College of Music. Studied Gamelan at ISI Yogyakarta sponsored by the Indonesia Embassy and directe with Maria Mónica the Gamelan Ensemble of Casa da Música do Porto. He plays at many festivals and for many projects like SSS-Q (with a trumpeter Susana Santos Silva, released from Wasser Bassin), TUBAB (with a tuba player Sérgio Carolino), Os Príncipes (with a singer Maria Monica), etc.
HIROKI CHIBA (bass, electronics) http://www.geocities.jp/tipakun/
A Tokyo based bass player, violinist, musician. Started to play the violin early in his life, Chiba studied bass under Masaaki Kikuchi (nephew of Masabumi Kikuchi). He launched his career as a jazz bass player in 2004. Chiba plays contrabass with some electronics, so that the soundscape is very wide-range from deep acoustic sound to tone particles. He has worked in a variety of musical contexts and regularly performs with Jim O’Rourke, Giovanni di Domenico and other Japanese artists: Akiko Yano(nonesuch), Sangatsu, Yoshihide Otomo, Tetuzi Akiyama, FilFla (minamo, Fourcolor), Kinetic, etc. His experimental Jazz band Rabbitoo's album is released from Naive (France) and SONG X JAZZ (Japan).
YOSHIO MACHIDA (steelpans, gamelan) http://www.yoshiomachida.com
A Tokyo based steelpan player, musician. Studied minimal art, music and movie extensively under Kuniharu Akiyama (a Japanese avant-garde composer, musicologist) at Tama art university in Tokyo. Machida has played at art and music festivals; ISEA, Sonar-Tokyo, Europhonics Jazz Festival, Maerz Musik, Cyberfest, etc. He has been introduced in a book "Haunted Weather" by David Toop and in a compilation album "Japanese Avant Garde" (Sub Rosa, 2002) with Yoshihide Otomo, Merzbow, etc. In 2009, Machida directed sound design and composed soundtracks for Van Cleef & Arpels exhibition in Tokyo. He plays improvisation with steelpan, not like Caribbean style, more like experimental, and traditional Indian music. His solo and group albums are released from some labels in France, Germany and Japan.
Credits
Jorge Queijo - drums, percussions
Hiroki Chiba - double bass, electronics
Yoshio Machida - steelpans, gamelan
License
All rights reserved.
Amorfon is a borderless/experimental music label founded by a Japanese composer / Steelpan player Yoshio Machida in 2004 in Tokyo. Our aim is cross cultural synergy.
アモルフォンは、2004年に美術家／音楽家、スティールパン奏者町田良夫が設立したボーダーレスな音楽レーベルです。"cross cultural synergy" (異文化間の相乗効果)をテーマに、実験音楽 - 音響系 - エレクトロニカ - ポストロック - ワールド - 現代音楽などのジャンルにまたがる、またはジャンルにあてはめることができないような音楽をフォーカスしています。