Herbie Nichols

小簡介
1919年出生的Herbie Nichols被認為是在作曲上對Bebop運動有極大的影響的作曲家，但矛盾的是在整個四○到五○年代里，Herbie Nichols卻堅持將演奏與發(fā)表作品的風(fēng)格保持在Swing與Dixieland的范疇里。Herbie Nichols發(fā)表的作品屈指可數(shù)，最精彩的莫過於1955年與1956年在Blue Note旗下發(fā)表的兩張專輯，還有在Savoy旗下錄製的四重奏唱片。但是Herbie Nichols的作曲方向卻得到Thelonious Monk與歐洲現(xiàn)代爵士樂手們的群起呼應(yīng)，尤其是Herbie Nichols自由地從Swing與Dixieland里取材，處理聲線流動與節(jié)奏的方式可說是影響深遠。
他一生中真正掛頭牌錄音的次數(shù)只有六次，全部都是以三重奏的型式完成，幸運的是六次錄音都有極具功力的樂手與他一同合作。「藍調(diào)之音」唱片很幸運保有這六次錄音中的四次，將之集合起來正是本套的三張唱片。這三張唱片在他以四十四歲英年早逝於白血病之時，一直都未賣得太好，正應(yīng)驗了經(jīng)典爵士唱片只能常賣不能大賣的老話。Herbie Nichols的音樂和五○年代的爵士風(fēng)格總有距離。他不那么咆勃，又不那么搖擺，由於他受過很高的教育，個性又較沉靜，所以音樂也和他的興趣一樣，有詩意又講究智性。
One of jazzs most tragically overlooked geniuses, Herbie Nichols was a highly original piano stylist and a composer of tremendous imagination and eclecticism. He wasnt known widely enough to exert much influence in either department, but his music eventually attracted a rabid cult following, though not quite the wide exposure it deserved.
Nichols was born January 3, 1919, in New York and began playing piano at age nine, later studying at C.C.N.Y. After serving in World War II, Nichols played with a number of different groups and was in on the ground floor of the bebop scene. However, to pay the bills he later focused on Dixieland ensembles; his own music — a blend of Dixieland, swing, West Indian folk, Monk-like angularity, European classical harmonies via Satie and Bartók, and unorthodox structures — was simply too unclassifiable and complex to make much sense to jazz audiences of the time. Mary Lou Williams was the first to record a Nichols composition — Stennell, retitled Opus Z, in 1951; yet aside from the song he wrote for Billie Holiday, Lady Sings the Blues, none of Nichols work got enough attention to really catch on.
He signed with Blue Note and recorded three brilliant piano trio albums from 1955-1956, adding another one for Bethlehem in late 1957. Nichols languished in obscurity after those sessions, though; sadly, just when he was beginning to find a following among several of the new things adventurous, up-and-coming stars, he was stricken with leukemia and died on April 12, 1963. In the years that followed, Nichols became a favorite composer in avant-garde circles, with tributes to his sorely neglected legacy coming from artists like Misha Mengelberg and Roswell Rudd. He also inspired a repertory group, called the Herbie Nichols Project, and most of his recordings were reissued on CD.