2023-12-28 · 爵士音樂
這張專輯以《繞.境 Twisting Roots》為主題,將來自美國的爵士大樂團聲響、臺灣土地的聲音這兩種不同土地文化背景的音樂、樂器與歌謠揉合再生,在音樂風格上持續交織與互動,創造新的獨特音樂與聲響。 以「繞」作為音樂交織概念、「境」代表土地性與文化性:代表創生於不同文化、並在這塊土地各自發展茁壯的踢霹歐爵士大樂團與臺灣傳統器樂 / 曲調共同交織、環繞與揉合出新的聲響質地與聽覺感受。而「Twisting Roots」──交錯繚繞的根──將龐雜豐富的文化背景所孕育出的音樂類型揉合、再創,梳理出新的音樂類型與獨特的土地音樂風貌,「土生」自個別文化背景,融合後「土長」出風格與審美獨特的臺灣混聲。 01移動肖像(Matt Fullen) 還記得那年我買了單程機票,隻身飛越太平洋,來到在這片我稱之為家的土地上。自此之後,我的生命中有兩個家──美麗的島嶼臺灣,以及被山巒所環抱的科羅拉多。我非常想念在美國的家人,特別是姊姊Liz看著家庭相簿的畫面,總是栩栩如生的印在我腦中。後來這首歌收錄在2020年我的首張創作爵士專輯 “Don’t Get Too Comfortable” 之中。 加入了TPO樂團之後,我寫了一封訊息給Alan Ferber,請他聆聽專輯,好奇他是否有興趣將其中一首作品改編給大樂團。Alan回覆說他很喜歡《移動肖像》,且是非常適合大樂團的作品。對我來說,當初請Alan重新編曲是抱著姑且一試的心態,但沒想到Alan將這首曲子帶到一個我從沒想像過的境界。我非常榮幸能和許多優秀的音樂家一起演奏,給予音樂許多不同的樣貌,而這現在首歌不只表達了對於家人的愛和思念,更昇華成讓大家凝聚在一起的力量。 Moving Portraits was written about two years after I bought a one-way plane across the Pacific Ocean and was thinking that I had come to a point in my life when I had two homes, one on the beautiful island of Taiwan and one at the divide of the rugged mountains and majestic plains of Colorado. I missed my family and thought of my sister Liz looking at family photographs, portraits that always came alive in her curious explorations of our family history. After I had recorded the song on my 2020 solo album Don’t Get Too Comfortable and also joined TPO, I sent a friendly message to Alan Ferber mentioning a mutual friend and wondering if he would be interested in arranging any of the songs on the album for TPO. He listened to the album and came back to me a bit later, very graciously saying that it was hard to choose but that he felt Moving Portraits was beautiful and would translate particularly well to big band. To me it was a shot in the dark, but in the end the song transformed under Alan’s hand to become an adventure of a kind I had never imagined, let alone with the thought of having the honor of playing it in a large of ensemble of such wonderful musicians and people. What began as an expression of love for and missing family turned into a vehicle for expression of togetherness. 02好客戲(黃博裕) 原作曲者蕭詩偉當初創作時,希望能將心中的客家歌印象描繪出來而創造了《好客戲》,歌曲活潑有朝氣,描述客家人日常與生命力! 在演奏上,這首《好客戲》給我的想像是:客家人好客以及團結的精神。中段與樂隊對句呼應,像是客家莊中村民茶餘飯後,在樹下泡茶聊天。樂曲節奏輕快,演奏上我嘗試用富有渲染力的嗩吶聲與爵士大樂團碰撞出不一樣的聽感,希望聽眾聽完能對嗩吶有更多共鳴。 The concept of "The Great Hakka Song" conjures images of the hospitality and unity inherent in Hakka culture. In the middle section, there's a call-and-response between the band, akin to Hakka villagers gathering under trees, sipping tea, and conversing after meals. The music's rhythm is lively, attempting to create a unique listening experience by blending the evocative sounds of the suona with a jazz big band. The aim is for listeners to develop a deeper resonance with the suona after experiencing the collision of these distinct musical styles. 03港都夜雨(謝智揚、劉士瑜) 這首經典的台語歌《港都夜雨》,從編曲的角度來說,已經有許多改編的版本,所以在編這首歌的時候,試著想跳脫出之前版本的框架。剛好那時候Jim跟我分享了一些我們都很喜愛的編曲家Maria Schneider的一張專輯。Maria Schneider是很擅長用音符描繪畫面的人。聽她的音樂時,讓我想試著用音樂表現出作曲家楊三郎創作時背景,也就是多雨的基隆。樂曲開頭的一陣一陣鋼琴聲,就是我對細雨渺渺基隆港的想像。雖然我好像幾乎沒有去過基隆,但透過楊三郎的曲,讓我感受到也許是雨都特有的憂鬱情懷,又或者是港都的離別情愁。另外一個Maria Schneider給我的靈感就是,透過樂器層次的堆疊,可以讓原本簡單的樂思慢慢的演變演化。雖然以銅管為主的大樂團,給人一種壯大的感覺,但是因為中國笛的關係,得以再添加一些東方式的溫柔婉約。 在演奏上,這個《港都夜雨》大樂團與中國笛的版本,其畫面與情境感很強烈。為創造不同的情緒與層次,主題選用大笛作為主奏,在大樂團的色彩下搭配大笛的潤澤細膩的音色,產生了特殊的對比與音響效果。即興段落首先是中國笛以獨有的傳統語彙,在音樂中創造類似水墨畫的意境,接著小號的演奏讓氣候產生陰晴轉變、捉摸不定的氛圍,進到吉他的即興段落讓整個天候進入近乎雷雨的狀態,三件獨奏樂器分別描繪了不同的雨天情景,直到樂曲的最後,像是暢快地淋了一場雨後,靜靜地消失在夜裡。讓我們一起享受這一場雨。 04煞猛來打拼(Jamey Simmons) 來自田納西州納許維爾的爵士樂編曲家和作曲家Jamey Simmons為我們改編了有名的客家曲目《煞猛來打拼》。Simmons説:「Jim和樂團傳給我了這首歌的著名流行版本,如何把它轉換為爵士樂與大樂團風格會是一個有趣的挑戰!」 由於這首樂曲描述台灣客家族群勤奮工作的精神,我決定不斷地在一個重覆和弦的背景音上發展旋律。想起在工作中總會遭遇到掙扎和挫折,間奏的地方我將曲調轉為小調並且加入了影響我至深爵士鋼琴家McCoy Tyner的手法。接著進入到即興演奏部分,由Damiano Niccolini進行中音薩克斯獨奏,以及由李哲安的次中音獨奏。他們各自將能量提升到新的高度,在重奏之中又充滿樂句上的對位。我認為這就像藝術家的生活,一個人必須完美達成許多事,而踢霹歐爵士大樂團做的非常好! 樂隊伴隨著小號手丹尼(Danny Deysher)宏亮音色以及鼓手詹無季(Baron Jan)的強烈節奏帶出了全曲的高潮齊奏,再次引出主旋律並且以一個輕鬆的方式收尾。真的非常開心能夠聽到樂隊如此出色地演奏我的編曲。 這首樂曲也使我想起自己在威斯康辛州經營水果農場的祖父母,他們依賴上帝的雨水、土地、陽光,悉心修剪、照料和采摘作物的樣貌。音樂確實是一種通用的語言。 Nashville, TN jazz arranger and composer Jamey Simmons arranged the next selection on our recording; a version of the famous song "Working Hard". Simmons had this to say about his arrangement: "Jim and the band sent the famous pop rendition of the song to me and it seemed like a fun challenge to transfer into the jazz/big band style. Since the tune speaks of the hard work ethic of the Taiwanese people, I decided to patiently develop the melody over a vamp with repetitive chords. With the thought that in work we encounter struggles (like the song talks of) the "bridge" moves to a minor key in the style of jazz pianist McCoy Tyner - an influence of mine. We move into the real task of improvising, with a solo by Damiano Niccolini on alto sax and a tenor solo by Li Che An. They each develop the energy to new heights, and work towards a section full of musical counterpoint. I think of this section of being like the life of an artist - the demand on a person to do several things well at once. The TPO does this admirably! Finally, the band sees the award for its efforts in a final climax - a shout chorus utilizing the big sound of Danny Deysher and the drive of Baron Jan. This ushers in the melody, followed by a relaxed resolution. It was a thrill to hear how lovingly the band played this arrangement. I can't but help thinking about my own grandparents who operated a fruit farm in rural Wisconsin, relying on God's provision of rain, land, sunshine, and the strength to prune, tend, and pick the crops. Music truly is a universal language.” 05優雅如你(Matt Fullen) 這首樂曲(原名為《看顧》)是2020年11月Zy The Way中庸樂團所創作的,當時全世界都陷於新冠疫情的水深火熱中,感謝台灣的防疫措施讓我們還能繼續日常生活。 「詩經計畫」是我與中庸樂團共同的重要創作,以流行、爵士的曲風,來詮釋中華文化的重要文學作品《詩經》。詩經中的篇章,多為西周至春秋時代的詩歌,據說由孔子編纂集大成。裡頭講述民間的日常、人情與社會現況,而三千年後的我們依然有著深刻的共鳴。身為一個與詩經相異文化背景的美國人,音樂靈感的來源至今是個謎,唯一知道的是,我用我自己的人生經驗來與之共舞,從中獲得詮釋養份。 《優雅如你》取自詩經中的「丰」篇,中庸樂團的是有歌手演繹,並加入了台語歌詞的版本。這首詩集吸引我的地方在於一份「殷殷期盼」的愛:女孩每日在街角,等待見到愛人的雀躍與緊張,和現代人的愛情故事仍然非常相似。 2022年,優秀的音樂家Alan Ferber將這首作品改編給踢霹歐爵士大樂團,在Alan忠於原創的編曲詮釋下,協同助理Arnie Sainze,保留《優雅如你》的靈魂、同時給與其新面貌,成為一個精彩的大樂團的版本。 Elegant is a Zy the Way song written in November of 2020 while Taiwan was teetering on the edge of a lockdown that would come six months later. The band had asked me to write my interpretation of a pop song as part of our project working with “Shijing,” lyric poetry collected from four corners of the Zhou Dynasty in China 3,000 years ago and compiled by philosopher cum cultural progenitor Confucius. The source of inspiration is really a mystery to me, despite my sometimes nostalgic mental cataloging of my influences. I “ring fence,” as Henry Rollins so aptly put it, those moments of pure and innocent musical absorption of the human experience. The inspiration for Elegant came directly from a Shijing poem by the name of Handsome, all translations being roughly equal. The song spoke to me because the narrator talked about the excitement of seeing her lover waiting for her every day at the corner of the street — not so unlike a modern love story. Later, in 2022 when Alan Ferber expressed interest in arranging the song for TPO, I knew that he would bring the kind of respect and enthusiasm to the music that Jim and I felt would be needed, and he, along with Arnie Sainz, created an entirely new vision of the song that still got to the core of the music that came from that hallowed place that we all have. 06天公落水(陳依芳) 天公落水是客家民謠,原曲在訴說男女在河畔相遇,心中產生了欣賞的情愫,卻又害羞只能放在心上的心情。感謝團長Jim非常尊重傳統樂器本身的語法,讓我能夠用二胡表現技巧及音樂語言,完全做自己、自如的表現二胡特色於此曲中,和大樂團形成了相異特色、卻能平衡共存的畫面。 一開始很不適應重新編曲後的節奏律動,不穩定性的大量後半拍,如同人生要跨出舒適圈時的那分不安定感,但是,經過長時間去感受那份新的律動,慢慢可以體會到它新穎的能量,走出舒適圈去享受它,為自己的音樂世界增添了全新色彩,這份收穫很美好! 融合不同樂種呈現新的樣貌,是很棒的方式,突破及創新讓我在這次的合作中玩得很開心,用二胡時而說著自己的語言、時而說著他人的語言,每個人用著自己的樂器在音樂中互相交流,最終產生了屬於我們彼此最獨特的音樂。在突破過程中彼此磨合至協調、彼此聆聽至支持,共同齊力把每個自己發揮極致,相信大家聽了一定會喜歡。 07哭訴(少妮瑤 Sauniaw.Tjuveljevelj) 《哭訴》主要是在喪禮中以哭歌泣訴亡者,表達依依不捨的情感,曲調哀傷、尾音拉長並顫抖、與笛聲並列為排灣族兩個重要又特殊、用以呈現哀思情感的聲音。演奏上綿密的音頻線條是內在極致情感具現,表現出排灣族人內斂民族性格。 音樂如同語言一般,在發展和演進中依舊保有其獨特的歷史脈絡。無論在演唱或演奏,我認為即興是整首曲靈魂,以即興的演奏手法貫穿現代音樂與傳統音樂,使兩者不同風格的音樂找出密合共融之處,迸出多元風格的哭訴,超越空間、節奏、旋律、情感,給予人想像無限寬廣! 在編曲上能感受到保有維護傳統音樂之決心,使音樂情感更具豐富。經過這次合作,對爵士音樂有所改觀,尤其對編曲上突破了我所認為的樣貌,由衷感謝編曲者,傳統音樂與爵士樂,共同譜出美麗多采多姿的樂章。 過去當鼻笛聲在部落響起,所有人的心都會被揪起,說者「na talimuzaw a ku varung(我的心啊!跟著它共鳴者)」。鼻笛正是因為用鼻息來吹奏,更能接近內心深處,傳達靈魂的悸動。希望聽者像過去的感受一樣,也會很揪心的說「na talimuzaw aku varung!」,對土地、大自然、文化共鳴,並在這段音樂歷程中,感受到人的生命價值意義。
最終更新:2025.6.18