Kenny Burrell Is Forever

[Machine Translation] Yoshiaki Okayasu's first new album in 4 years and 7 months, following his second solo guitar album "Ballad for the Night" released in April 2020. 30 years ago, I saw Kenny Burrell perform live for the first time at the Blue Note Tokyo, and was surprised, surprised, shocked, and moved by his performance, which I have been pursuing ever since. The band is an irregular trio of guitar, tenor sax, and piano. They are joined by Toru Anbo and Keiichi Yoshida. They have participated in many of Okayasu's leader's works, and are his most trusted and skilled true musicians. Although there will be no drummer or bassist, the three of them rehearsed many times, and after repeated trial and error, they narrowed down their repertoire to only Barrel's original compositions. Okayasu played a 1949 D'Angelico New Yorker guitar, and only the fifth song, "Blue Muse," was recorded live without amplification.

2020年4月発表のソロ・ギター第2弾『バラード・フォー・ザ・ナイト』に続く、岡安芳明にとって4年7ヶ月ぶりの新作。30数年前、『ブルーノート東京』で初めてケニー・バレルの生演奏を観て、驚きと発見、衝撃と感動を覚え、以来ずっと追い求めてきた。編成はギター、テナー・サックス、ピアノという変則のトリオ。共演の安保徹と吉田桂一。これまで岡安のリーダー作に何度も参加、岡安がもっとも信頼を寄せる腕の確かな真のミュージシャンである。ドラムとベースは不在だが、この3人で何度もリハーサルを重ね、試行錯誤を繰り返し、レパートリーも絞りこみ、バレルのオリジナル曲のみで構成することになった。今回、岡安が弾いたギターは、銘器ディアンジェリコ・ニューヨーカー (1949年製)。5曲目の「ブルー・ミューズ」のみ、アンプは通さず生音で収録している。