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鍵盤から炎を放つワールドワイドな鬼才が逆輸入!!
ブッ飛んだ才能だ。クラシックの素養を窺わせるピアノの繊細なタッチと流麗な旋律、かと思えば乱暴に殴りかかるような凶暴性を見せる。このたび、母国日本でリリースとなるBIGYUKIのデビュー作『Greek Fire』が初聴きで与えるインパクトは、彼が高校時代によく聴いていたというプリンスにも通じている。奇才、いや鬼才と書くべきか。
NYの持つエネルギーに惹かれて
ビラルの『Airtight's Revenge』（2010年）や『A Love Surreal』（2013年）に参加し、バークリー音楽大学時代のルームメイトだった宮崎大（フィリー在住のソウル・ギタリスト）と並んでビラルのライヴで鍵盤を弾いていたMasayuki Hirano（平野雅之）がBIGYUKIだと気付いたのは昨秋、USでデビュー作を発表する少し前のことだった。バークリー在学中、現在monologとして活動する金坂征広と共にふたりとも〈yuki〉と呼ばれていたが、そのうち〈どっちのyuki?〉と混乱が生じたため、金坂より少し背の高かった平野が〈big yuki〉と呼ばれ、それを芸名にしたという。
現在34歳。母親が祖母から受け継いだアップライト・ピアノで遊びはじめた彼は6歳からクラシック音楽を学び、「在米経験のある両親の勧めもあって、ショパンの演奏で奨学金を取ることのできたバークリー音楽大学に（進学を）決めた」という。TVアニメの主題歌“おどるポンポコリン”で初めてCDを手にして以来、山下達郎、井上陽水、TM NETWORKなどの音楽に触れ、実家でアタリ・ティーンエイジ・ライオットを爆音でかけるなどしていた彼が、いまの音楽性に直結する音楽と出会うのは渡米後のこと。以下、ボストンでの大学時代の音楽体験を彼の発言をもとに要約すると――フィニアス・ニューボーンJrやケニー・カークランド、ブラッド・メルドー、ジョーイ・カルデラッツォを愛聴。ロニー・スミスなどのオルガン・ジャズに出会ってオルガン・クァルテットを結成し、ストリートで演奏した後、メイシオ・パーカーの『Life On Planet Groove』を聴いてファンクに目覚め、ハービー・ハンコックのエレクトリック時代の名曲などをやるライヴ・セッションに参加。一方でチャーチ・バンドでも演奏し、イエロージャケッツのラッセル・フェランテに憧れると同時にJ・ディラの音楽に出会い、ジェイムズ・ブレイクを聴いて衝撃を受けたという。
2000年代後半、「街の持つエネルギーに惹かれて」拠点をNYに移した彼は、ビラルとタリブ・クウェリの両バンドに参加。2年ほど前からはQ・ティップのスタジオでレコーディングに参加し、Qにホレス・シルヴァーの曲のメロディーの弾き方を教えたそうで……。そうしたなかで築いた人脈を大切にしながら作ったのが『Greek Fire』なのだ。
現実世界から外れていく感覚
アルバムでは、ビラルのバンドで共演したランディ・ルニオン（ギター）、タリブ・クウェリのバンドで共演し、アイドル・ウォーシップやリフレクション・エターナルと関わるキッカケを作ったダルー・ジョーンズ（ドラムス）が流麗にしてカオスな音世界に加担。（初期に作った）5曲をコプロデュースしたダルーについては「彼のビート感が大きなインスピレーションでした」と言い、プロデュースとミックスを担当したタリク・カーンは恩人のような存在だと話す。アルバムのタイトルもタリクの提案だそうだ。
「ビザンチン帝国が海戦で使った火炎放射器です。昔から俺は炎への執着心が強く、自分の中で鬱屈しているものを音楽という媒体を通して昇華させるイメージですね」。
「荒廃した世界に人間性を取り戻すレジスタンス的なイメージ」とも語るアルバムを象徴するようなビラル客演の“John Connor”は、「モロに映画『ターミネーター』（に登場する人類抵抗軍の指導者）からインスパイアされています」とのことで、ビラル“West Side Girl”のBIGYUKIによるリミックスが日本盤にボーナス収録されたことに関連づけるなら、そこに広がるのは『A Love Surreal』に通じるシュールな世界だ。「ビラルとのギグは独特で、ベースとなる曲をいかに壊すか、というか皆がアクシデントを期待しているような変なワクワク感が常にあります」という言葉通りに。この曲では「鋭く、ビート感がフレッシュ」と称賛する名手ジャスティン・タイソンがドラムを担当。そして、同じく彼がドラムを叩いたのが、ビラルの後輩とも言えるクリス・ターナーとハーモニカ奏者のグレゴア・マレが客演した長尺のスロウ“revolution US”だ。クリスについては「メロディーができた時、押し付けがましくなく、でも親身に語りかけてる、そして説得力のあるイメージと彼の声が重なりました」と話すが、この曲は「外の世界との繋がりを怖がっている人が、その殻を破って人生の無限の可能性を知る」ことをテーマにしているという。
幼少期にピアノを始めた時には「集中して演奏できた時の、現実世界から外れていく感覚が好き」と思ったようだが、アルバムに感じられるのも〈現実離れした〉感覚だ。姉妹曲とも言える“Red Pill”と“Blue Pill”を含め、短いながらも一曲一曲が壮大な組曲のようで、激しい揺さぶりをかけてくる楽曲たち。ハドソン・モホーク～TNGHTの路線を狙い、「初めのシンセ・パーツに尽きます」と言う“Freshly Squeezed”、「何回もピアノで弾いてるうちに綺麗なモチーフをブッ壊したくなって、じゃあロックっぽくしようと」と話す表題曲の無軌道っぷりには舌を巻く。一方で、「ちょっとした甘めのループ」というピアノが美しい“Paradise Descended”は、最近ではマーカス・ストリックランドの新作に参加した彼のジャズ作法というか、親交の厚いロバート・グラスパーとも比較されそうだが、彼はグラスパーらの跡を追っているわけではない。
「周りの仲間を巻き込んで自分がかっちょいいと思う音楽のシーンを開拓していくのが目標です。さらにブッ飛んだものを作りたいですね」。
狭い枠に閉じ込めることのできないスケールの大きさ。BIGYUKIは本当にビッグな男なのだった。
BIGYUKI "Greek Fire"
Interviewed and written by: Tsuyoshi Hayashi
The border-crossing wizard that sends keyboards up in flames triumphally makes his way back to Japan!!
Sheer smashing talent. Delicate touches and elegant melos that flashes his grounding in classical music rudely gives way to viciously striking ferocity. The impact one is hit by with their first listen to “Greek Fire”, the debut album from BIGYUKI to be released in his homeland Japan, is something akin to that of Prince whom he claims to have been his favorite in his high school days. Simply genius, or wizard, shall we put it?
Drawn to the vibe of NY
It was only a bit before his debut work was being released in the US last autumn that I realized that Masayuki Hirano - the musician who appeared on Bilal’s “Airtight's Revenge” (2010) and “A Love Surreal” (2013), and who also was playing behind Bilal on his shows as the keyboardist, alongside Berklee College days roommate Dai Miyazaki (Philadelphia-residing soul guitarist) - was actually the same person as BIGYUKI. Together with Yukihiro Kanesaka - who currently goes under the stage name [monolog] - he used to be called by the name [yuki] during their Berklee days. Confusion occurred as to which [yuki] was which, leading to the need to distinguish between the two [yuki]s, resulting to the taller one to be called, -which he decided to use as the stage name we know today.
Currently 34 years of age, BIGYUKI who started fiddling around with the upright piano that had been passed down to his mother from his grandmother, started his classical music education at the age of 6, and according to the artist himself, took the decision to forward his studies at Berklee College of Music, given the encouraging nudge in the back by his parents who both had once lived in the States, which he won scholarship for by playing a Chopin piece. Ever since he laid his hands the CD of “Odoru Ponpokorin”, the theme song for a popular household TV anime, he extended his listening to big acts such as Tatsuro Yamashita, Yosui Inoue or TM NETWORK, and grew up to blast the music of Atari Teenage Riot out of the speakers at home. It was only after he set his foot in US that he encountered the kind of music that had direct impact on him that would later define the music he plays today.
A summary of his own words on his musical path during his college days in Boston goes something like this: devotedly listened to Phineas Newborn Jr, Kenny Kirkland, Brad Mehldau, and Joey Calderazzo; discovered organ jazz acts such as Lonnie Smith and forms an organ quartet; used to play on the street for a while before awakening to funk from listening to Maceo Parker’s “Life on Planet Groove” and participated in live sessions that played tunes such as the classics of Herbie Hancock from his electric days. On another front, he would also play at church bands, and while being taken with Russell Ferrante of The Yellowjackets, he discovers music of J Dilla and also gets struck by the sounds of James Blake.
He relocates to New York, drawn to the ‘vibe of the city’ in the late noughties, and lands himself in the two bands by Bilal and Talib Qweli. For over the past 2 years, he has been seen taking place in recording sessions in Q-Tip’s studio, in which at one time, he found himself teaching Q how to play the melody of a Horace Silver tune… “Greek Fire” comes as the fruit of the embracing of the treasurable connections he has cultivated through all these experiences.
The sense of being isolated from the real world
Guitarist Randy Runyon -whom he shared the stage when playing in Bilal’s band- along with drummer Daru Jones -whom he played together on Talib Kweli’s band and who served as the catalyst for him to get involved with Idle Warship and Reflection Eternal- both contributes in creating the elegant yet chaotic sound world. With regards to Daru who co-produced 5 (of the early) tracks, BIGYUKI looks back saying “Daru’s sense of beats served as great inspirations for me,” while he also adds that Tariq Khan who produced and mixed the album is a benefactor figure to him. The title of the album seems to have been decided at Tariq’s suggestion.
“(It’s about) a flame gun used by the Byzantine Empire at naval battles,” explains BIGYUKI. “For a long time, I’ve had a strong attachment to flames. The image is of myself trying to sublimate through this catalyst called music, the depressing melancholy built within.”
“John Connor“, featuring Bilal as guest musician, is the track emblematic of the album that BIGYUKI explains “is of the image of a resistance striving to restore humanity in a devastated world”. He continues to say that “It is a track inspired solidly by (the leader of the resistance movement in) the film [The Terminator]”, and associating this with the fact that the remix of Bilal’s “West Side Girl” by BIGYUKI has been included as a bonus track to the Japanese version of the album this time, what lies in front of us is the surrealistic world that echoes with “A Love Surreal”. Just as BIGYUKI explains, “Gigs with Bilal is unique. Like there’s this weird excitement as if we’re all waiting for someone to screw up or spoil the underlying base track.” Ace player, Justin Tyson, whom BIGYUKI commends as “a musician of intensity and an exhilarating sense of beats”, is assigned as the drummer on this album. “revolution US” is one such track on which Justin plays the drums –a long and slow track that features guest artists, Chris Turner, who is also junior to Bilal, and harmonica player, Gregoire Maret. “On the first listen when the melody just came out,” BIGYUKI recalls, “the unobtrusive but yet sympathetically speaking image of the melody instantly brought Chris’ voice to my mind.” At the same time, he also adds that the track is based on the concept of “a person who has connection with an outer world breaking through the shell to encounter the infinite possibilities of mankind.”
Looking back, as a young boy learning the piano, BIGYUKI says he used to like the sense of getting disconnected from the real world when he was able to play well, absorbed in his concentration. And that sense of [disconnection from the real world] is precisely what can be felt from this latest album. Including the brother-and-sister tracks, “Red Pill” and “Blue Pill”, each and every track, though short in length, wears the presence of a magnificent suite, stirring up the heart of the listener. Among which in particular, “Freshly Squeezed” is a piece geared toward the line of Hudson Mohawke ~TNGHT’s sounds that BIGYUKI comments “it’s really all about the synths at the very beginning”, and the title track that “was made into a true ‘rock’ number due to the emerged desire of completely destroying the beautiful motif after playing it numerous times on the piano”, demonstrating a simply stunning craziness that will leave one speachless. On the other hand, there also is “Paradise Descended” with the beautiful ‘slightly mellowish looping’ piano phrase, that may be compared to the jazz techniques works of Marcus Strickland whom he made appearance on the latest works, or Robert Glasper whom he has developed close friendship with, but no, that is not the case. He is not following the trails of those artists.
“My goal is to pioneer music fronts that I personally think is hot, involving fellow musicians too. It would be great to make something absolutely mind-blowing,” says BIGYUKI.
A scale too large to fit in a narrow frame. BIGYUKI lives up to his name as a truly BIG man.
