上原廣美與艾德瑪•卡斯塔內達:加拿大蒙特婁現場實況

天才鋼琴家上原廣美從2003年加盟Telarc唱片，就成為21世紀的超絕新秀。從不預設有多少即興可能，以不自我設限的概念，開創許多爵士的新格局。她自己說道:『我不會給自己的音樂一個定義的名稱，這些音樂都是我聽過或學過的一部份。不論是古典，搖滾或爵士音樂，都是我的音樂呈現之一。』

  2017年夏天加拿大蒙特婁爵士音樂節當中，特別安排了一場極為創新的爵士二重奏演出，那就是上原廣美與來自哥倫比亞的豎琴演奏家艾德瑪?卡斯塔內達。兩人的第一次見面是2016年卡斯塔內達為上原廣美的三重奏做暖場演出，沒想到兩人對於對方的音樂創意都感到興趣。卡斯塔內達對於節奏的處理超乎一般人想像，而上原廣美卻是個揮灑自由即興個性的小精靈。兩人不但一拍即合，沒多久上原廣美邀請卡斯塔內達到紐約Blue Note一起演出，兩個原創的聲音變成一個全新的即興組合。演出大受歡迎之後，他們也陸續接到新的演出邀約。

  這個現場演出錄音，充份表現令人意想不到的鮮活創意。可以說豎琴彈奏除了「Moonlight Sunshine」這樣的抒情演奏，不然卡斯塔內達已經把它當成貝斯來彈奏。音樂會最後的「Libertango」更是驚豔無比，演奏間兩人不斷激盪出新的即興創意，同時也獲得現場樂迷廣大回響，在熱烈掌聲中畫下音樂會的完美句點。

Two of the most electrifying and original voices in contemporary jazz come together on Live in Montreal, the thrilling new album from Hiromi and Edmar Castaneda. Captured live at the 2017 Montreal International Jazz Festival, the album features the Japanese pianist/composer and the Colombian harpist finding common ground on Canadian soil, joining forces for a duo set that's alternately – and at times simultaneously – engaging, explosive, moving, intricate and infectious.

Set for release October 6, 2017 on Telarc, a division of Concord Music Group, Live in Montreal was recorded exactly one year from the day when Hiromi and Castaneda first met. It was at the 2016 edition of the Montreal International Jazz Festival that the harpist was scheduled to open for a performance of Hiromi's Trio Project. Each caught the other's set and instantly fell under one another's spell, as so many audiences had done before.

"I didn't really know what to expect," Hiromi remembers. "When I heard Edmar play I couldn't believe what I was witnessing. It was a jaw-dropping experience. I didn't realize the harp could create such rhythm and groove. I only knew about classical harp, so my image of the instrument was very different. His way of playing was pure energy, full of passion - I was just blown away."

For his part, Castaneda was equally awed by Hiromi's set that night. "Her trio was burning, really crazy. The energy that she produced was the same as I like to play. I realized that we share the same passion for our instruments."

After the show that night the two broached the topic of a collaboration, but so often that kind of backstage talk gets forgotten the moment that each side moves on to the next town. Fortunately that didn't happen this time around, and it was less than two weeks later that Castaneda's phone rang with an invitation to join Hiromi for a weeklong engagement at New York's Blue Note Jazz Club. The moment they began to meld their distinctive sounds, the chemistry they'd suspected was more than confirmed.

"We both clearly remember the first few minutes of playing together in soundcheck," Hiromi says. "It was really magical and effortless. It felt like all the musical notes that we created were happy to be together. It was like dancing."

From the blooming string swell that opens Castaneda's "A Harp in New York," the duo's synchronicity is gorgeously apparent. As a duo, their shared intuitions lead them from moments of serene beauty into bursts of propulsive momentum, leaving the listener floating with the perfect balance of tranquility and drive. The opening tug-of-war on "For Jaco" elicits appreciative laughter from the Montreal audience, providing a glimpse of the sheer joy that the pair finds in playing together. The tune's buoyant groove was created in tribute to the legendary bassist Jaco Pastorius, whose brilliant art and tragic life proved both inspiration and cautionary tale for Castaneda.

"I was so impressed - and I'm still impressed - by all the tones and options Jaco created on the four string bass," Castaneda says. "He inspired me to keep doing what I do on the harp, to try to show a different face of the instrument to people. At the same time, he showed me what not to do, how to try to be a musician but not try to go on the bad path that he took. I learned a lot from him, both personal and technical."

Hiromi's stunningly lyrical "Moonlight Sunshine" was written in response to the devastating tsunami and earthquake suffered by her native Japan in 2011. Though she's performed it in the past with bass giant Stanley Clarke, it's a perfect fit for the soul-stirring virtuosity of both of these players. Their shared musical passions turn more fiery on the album's closer, an entrancingly sultry take on Astor Piazzolla's immortal "Libertango."

John Williams' familiar "Cantina Band" from Star Wars swings the mood in the other direction, its playful spirit rendered in an arrangement that evokes Django Reinhardt's gypsy swing, Calypso rhythms, and saloon-style stride piano. Hiromi, a diehard Star Wars fan from childhood, had long been looking for an outlet to tackle the tune, while Castaneda, shockingly for anyone born in the late ‘70s, has still never seen the film.

The centerpiece of the set is Hiromi's four-part suite "The Elements," composed especially for this duo. "I couldn't find anything written for this particular instrument combination, and I also wanted to write something for the way we played," Hiromi explains. "I was imagining Edmar's sound and it reminded me a lot of sounds in nature." Each piece imaginatively reflects its subject: the weightless of "air," the gritty, deep-rooted groove of "earth," the shimmering fluidity of "water," the roiling simmer of "fire."

Most importantly, the suite allows the duo to show off the limitless range of their approaches to their instruments, especially Castaneda's relatively unfamiliar (in jazz settings) harp. "She really studied what I do and wrote for the way that I play," Castaneda says. "I always try to be away from ‘harp,' all these glissandos and soft sounds. It was really nice to have grooves and a different approach to harmony and the combination of the voices in this suite."

The final element in the concert was provided by the famously appreciative Montreal audience. One of the most renowned jazz festivals in the world, the Festival International de Jazz de Montr?al, as it's known north of the border, attracts true lovers of the music, who listen raptly and respond enthusiastically. It was as much for that reason as for the nostalgic thrill of returning to the same site where they'd met a year prior that the duo chose to record at the festival.

"I always love the audience in Montreal," Hiromi says. "I always felt that they listen to the music with the same dynamics that we play it. They can be really loud and cheerful, but at the same time they can be really focused and quiet. That combination is very rare and amazing, and it puts me in the perfect mood to record."

Not that either she or Castaneda need much encouragement beyond the spark they feel from each other's inspiration. Live in Montreal captures all the exuberance and virtuosity that both bring to all of their music, with the added thrill of the new that comes with such an unusual pairing. "It takes courage to come hear a new combination of instruments," Hiromi says – though she shrugs off the courage it takes to be part of creating such a new sound. "I can assure everyone that it will be a very exciting, brand new experience."

曲目:
1. A Harp In New York
2. For Jaco
3. Moonlight
4. Cantina Band The Elements
5. Air
6. Earth
7. Water
8. Fire
9. Libertango