游客激增的冰島：邊發(fā)財，邊發(fā)愁

素有“黑暗王子”之稱的邁爾斯·戴維斯是爵士樂史上一個偉大的名字。他的經典專輯“Kind Of Blue”被評為爵士史上的不朽之作，其中首支單曲“So What”更是經久不衰。今天我們就來欣賞這首上世紀50年代爵士樂的代表作。

Miles Davis's “So What” is one of the most famous compositions in jazz, instantly recognisable from its introductory bass phrase.Recorded in 1959, it has sold millions of copies as the opening track of the album Kind Of Blue.It is simple, melodic and catchy, but the song's origins are complex.They can be found in what was once revolutionary harmonic theory, in classical music and African ballet, and several sections of the song were “borrowed”.

邁爾斯·戴維斯的“So What”是世界上最著名的爵士樂之一。當開頭的一段貝斯響起，人們就立刻可以辨認出這首歌的旋律。以這支1959年錄制的曲子作為首支單曲的專輯Kind Of Blue賣出了高達幾百萬張。這支曲子很簡單，曲調悠揚而迷人，但它的淵源卻非常復雜。你可以從中找出革命性的和聲理論、古典音樂和非洲芭蕾舞團的一些痕跡。不僅如此，這支曲子中的一些部分是直接“借鑒”來的。

Davis was a musically restless soul.He played with Charlie Parker in the 1940s as part of the bebop movement; he launched “cool” jazz in 1948 alongside arranger Gil Evans, and had spent the mid-1950s playing hard bop, churning out jazz standards, show tunes and pop songs with precision and energy.But Davis, a brilliant trumpeter, grew bored with this; improvising over the numerous chord changes of jazz tunes was not a challenge to him.Always as interested in the notes he didn't play as much as those he did, Davis realised less could be more.

戴維斯在音樂上有顆躁動不安分的心。在20世紀40年代，他與查理·帕克一同投身于波普運動的浪潮中。1948年，他與編曲家吉爾·埃文斯一同創(chuàng)造了“冷爵士”，20世紀50年代中期又轉向改良咆哮樂，將旋律和流行樂曲用一種精準而有力的方式表現(xiàn)出來，為爵士樂立下新的標準。而戴維斯這位杰出的小號手卻漸漸對此失去了興趣。即興創(chuàng)作無數(shù)爵士樂旋律和弦變換對他來講毫無挑戰(zhàn)性。喜新厭舊的戴維斯意識到簡單就是美。

Davis and Gil Evans had fallen under the influence of composer and pianist George Russell.In the late 1950s, Davis began to see Russell's methods as the way out of the musical cul-de-sac he felt trapped in.He was further intrigued when he saw Les Ballets Africains, a dance ensemble from Guinea who used rhythm and space rather than complex chord changes in their music.Davis's initial response was to record “Milestones”, a 1958 track that came to epitomise the modal jazz of its era.Davis decided to cut an entire album of modal material, Kind Of Blue.

戴維斯和吉爾·埃文斯受到了作曲家和鋼琴家喬治·拉塞爾的影響。20世紀50年代末，戴維斯將拉塞爾的理論視作引領他走出音樂死胡同的方式。后來他更是被非洲芭蕾舞團深深吸引。這是一支來自幾內亞的舞蹈團，他們擅長在音樂中利用旋律和空間而非復雜的和弦變換。戴維斯的第一個嘗試是錄制了“Milestones”，這首錄制于1958年的曲子成為了那個時代爵士樂的代表作。戴維斯決定錄制一整張專輯，Kind Of Blue。

Kind Of Blue was a runaway success, and made stars of saxophonists John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley, who played on it, as well as Bill Evans.“So What” has been particularly popular with guitarists, who like tunes based on riffs.

Kind Of Blue收獲了巨大的成功，捧紅了演奏者薩克斯手約翰·克特蘭、加農炮艾德利和比爾·埃文斯。“So What”尤其受到喜歡即興重復段的吉他手的歡迎。

Davis remained restless.Kind Of Blue made him one of the few jazz names known to the wider public, but his opinion of this masterwork was pretty much a shrugging “So what?” In 1986 he dismissed Kind Of Blue as “l(fā)ike warmed over turkey”, even though many other jazz musicians would have loved to have made a record that brought them such commercial and critical acclaim.

戴維斯并沒有就此停止，Kind Of Blue讓他成為了僅有的幾個有大眾知名度的爵士音樂家，但他對此的態(tài)度不過是聳聳肩“So What”？1986年他不屑地將Kind Of Blue比作“炒冷飯”，盡管很多其他爵士音樂人夢想著能制作這樣一張帶來巨大商業(yè)利益和贊譽的專輯。

詞匯總結

melodic[m??l?d?k]

adj.有旋律的;調子美妙的

It is simple, melodic and catchy, but the song's origins are complex.

這支曲子很簡單，曲調悠揚而迷人，但它的淵源卻非常復雜。

epitomise[?'p?t?m?s]

vt.成為（某事物）的縮影

Davis's initial response was to record “Milestones”, a 1958 track that came to epitomise the modal jazz of its era.

戴維斯的第一個嘗試是錄制了“Milestones”，這首錄制于1958年的曲子成為了那個時代爵士樂的代表作。

runaway success一舉走紅

Kind Of Blue was a runaway success, and made stars of saxophonists John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley, who played on it, as well as Bill Evans.

Kind Of Blue收獲了巨大的成功，捧紅了演奏者薩克斯手約翰·克特蘭、加農炮艾德利和比爾·埃文斯。