Feelings of Jazz(爵士风情)

Last month, California hosts the 49th annual Monterey Jazz Festival, featuring lots of jazz piano Legends, among which I favorite Oscar Peterson and Dave Brubeck.
与有词有曲的歌曲相比，我认为纯音乐作品给人们带来的想象空间更加广泛。尤其是Oscar Peterson那样喜欢不拘一格运用各种音乐体裁来丰富其表演内涵的天才爵士钢琴家，更是以生动多变的即兴演奏同事征服了传统和现代爵士乐迷的心。在持之以恒的摇摆精神中，他总能通过紧紧把握住时代潮流的脉动，以致于数十年来在乐坛的地位始终屹立不倒。作为一位殿堂级的音乐大师，他那无拘无束、自由写意的演奏方式，总能将我心头的压力彻底消除



他的一生极富传奇色彩，By his early twenties, Peterson was playing in a trio at the Alberta Lounge in his hometown of Montreal, Quebec. One day, well-known producer Norman Granz, heading out of Montreal in a taxi on his way to the airport, heard Peterson’s trio on the car radio, live from the jazz club. He was son enchanted with the sound that he demanded the driver turn around and take him to see the musicians. After that, Peterson became a legend. Duke Ellington recognized his talent, calling Peterson the “Maharajah (King) of the Keyboard.”


我以为Jazz的魅力很大程度上在于它是一门表达情感与情绪的艺术。许多爵士乐手一生都在述说着人世间的喜、怒、哀、乐。爵士乐需要的是一种亲和力，貌似平凡的充满阳光般喜悦的人Dave Brubeck缔造了爵士乐坛最为本色的声音。 Dave Brubeck是唯一一位赢得国际声誉的西海岸风格的爵士钢琴手。他的作品中充满了古典音乐的痕迹，是爵士乐与流行乐的完美组合。 Dave Brubeck四重奏成为了爵士乐的瑰宝，而同样能体现Dave Brubeck个性与才华的还有他的独奏作品。然而他的独奏作品大部分是在家中完成的，于是作品的画龙点睛之处便具备了即兴与真情的实感，这才使得Dave Brubeck的音乐长盛不衰。
Still working at a hearty 84, Brubeck performs 80 concerts a year. During his latest concerts, the one piece he’s sure to do is “Take Five” the million-seller penned in 1959 that has come to define Brubeck’s music. “We play it differently every time we play it,” says Brubeck. “So I never get tired of playing it. That’s the beauty of jazz.” He grew up learning classical piano from his mother. He would memorize Bahe and Beethoven to appease her, but jazz was his love. While most players were being influenced by the hard-charging bebop that permeated the scene during the late’40s and 50s, Brubeck’s quartet experimented with syncopated rhythms unusual time signatures and two tone harmonies, Brubeck “probably brought more people into the music than anybody I can think of,” says Dan Morgenstern, director of the institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University. “For some reason or other his music connects with people.”