Rickie Lee Jones - Pop Pop

Este disco está de tal forma instituído na minha 'fonoteca', que foi preciso confirmar os arquivos do Manancial da Noite, antes de escrever este texto. Era capaz de jurar que já o tinha feito antes...

Apesar de integralmente composto por standards de jazz sobejamente conhecidos (excepção feita para 'Up From The Skies' de Jimi Hendrix), Pop Pop não se pode exactamente definir como sendo (estritamente) um disco de Jazz. As melodias, os tempos e o feel de cada tema são completamente reinventados, de acordo com uma ideia fundamental de simplicidade:

"I can't remember when I decided on just guitar and bass. I was thinking about it for a couple of years, because I had practiced 'Valentine' with a guitar and bass when I lived in France and said 'Oh, that's really beautiful and different without a keyboard.' I think I got the idea then and it was growing on me. [That sparer sound] is what I grew up with. My uncle and my dad used to play together all the time: they would sing those standards with the guitar so for me it's the most natural sounding.

Com a participação (sempre especial) de Charlie Haden e uma tremenda dose de inspiração, Pop Pop é um registo absolutamente essencial.

"The album's got a kind of old flavor about it. There's no electric music, no keyboard and no drums. A couple of songs have snare and a bongo, but no drum kit. Real intimate. It's real nice listening. [The album's] just what I wanted to do, what I like to listen to. All standards."

"It's not jazz in the way that people who like jazz like jazz. It's my own way of looking at it. The album is old, it's very special."

-- Rickie Lee Jones, a propósito daquele que é - na minha opinião - o melhor disco da sua carreira: Pop Pop.

18.05.2005                   1