Designing CD album jacket for Hajime and Ouji, Piano and Drums duo January 2021

Hajime and Ouji, Piano and Drums Duo　1st　Album

Always for Pleasure

いつでもどこでも絵は描けますが、大切な絵はすぐには描けません。こころと身体を知識と想いでいっぱいにして、「よし描ける！」と感じる瞬間までは。

「はじめとおうじ　ピアノ＆ドラムデュオ」のファーストアルバム「Always for Pleasure」のCDジャケットの絵を描くにあたり、まず始めたことは、ニューオーリンズのジャズについて学ぶことでした。「光と影、生と死、相反するものが混在するのがジャズだ」というお二人の言葉をヒントに本を読むなかで、ニューオーリンズの町の成り立ちと発展、曲の意味、ミュージシャン達の辿った運命を知り、生きることがとても難しかった時代の哀しみと命の躍動が、音の中に生き続けていることを知りました。

デモ音源を繰り返し聴きながら、古い写真に写る人々を描き続けるうちに、こころの表面に浮かび上がってきたイメージは、暗闇の中から光の方へ、泣き笑う人々と共にパレードする二人の姿です。昔も今も、生きている限り失うことからは逃げられないけれど、それでも人生は続いていくなら、哀しみも笑いと一緒に未来に連れていくことができると、絵を描きながら、そう思いました。

小林創さんのピアノと、木村おうじさんが奏でる音が、誰かの泣き笑いと共鳴して、「喜び」となるよう心から願っています。

I can draw pictures anytime but drawing important pictures is not to be done in a day. Until the moment when my body and soul are filled with knowledge and thoughts, and I feel…I can draw now!

When drawing the CD jacket for Always for Pleasure, the first thing I started with was learning about New Orleans jazz. I was inspired from their words, Jazz is a mixture of contradictory things such as light and shadow, life and death, and read lots of books. Through reading, I learned the origins and development of the city of New Orleans, the meaning of the songs, and the life of jazz musicians. And I felt that their sorrow and life force in times when it was very difficult to live are still alive in the music.

While listening to the demo and continuing to draw the people in the old photographs, something emerged on the surface of my heart. It was an image of Hajime-san and Ouji-san parading from the darkness toward the light with a crowd of crying and laughing. As long as we live, we cannot escape from losing, which has not changed since the olden days. However, I thought that Life goes on anyway. And we can bring our sorrow and laughter to the future together.

I really hope their music will resonate with someone’s sorrow and laughter and become a little Pleasure.