The Deku Trio is back with more Zelda jazz
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
I got a nice Friday morning surprise when I opened up my Spotify app today: a new album of jazz versions of classic Zelda music from the perfectly named Deku Trio (a.k.a. pianist and arranger Rob Aurajo).
The Deku Trio — portrayed in charming illustrations as Princess Zelda on keys, Link on drums, and Ganondorf on upright bass — released Zelda & Jazz back in June. The album was a small but perfectly formed coffeehouse jazz reinterpretation of Koji Kondo’s immortal score for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and it made those timeless melodies feel fresh.
The follow-up, called simply Zelda & Jazz 2, ditches the single-game format for a longer meander through tunes from across the Zelda series. It opens with the original Legend of Zelda theme arranged as shuffling bossa nova, and then hops around between the soundtracks for The Wind Waker, Link’s Awakening, Majora’s Mask, Spirit Tracks, Twilight Princess, A Link to the Past, and Skyward Sword. The Deku Trio revisit Ocarina of Time for a couple of additional tracks, including the unforgettable riff of “Inside a House.” (You’ll know it when you hear it.)
The Wind Waker gets the most inclusions by far; perhaps this was originally going to be the focus of the album before it expanded across the series. A smooth rendition of “The Great Sea” from that game is probably the highlight, stretching out to a luxurious five minutes. The trio lets the run times go a little longer on this album, and Aurajo occasionally lets some freewheeling piano solos rip, as on “Song of Healing” from Majora’s Mark.
There’s nothing as lively here as the first album’s bebop “Gerudo Valley,” and the mix-and-match approach, with fewer instantly recognizable themes than the Ocarina soundtrack, means this album is a little more wallpapery. Or maybe it’s just because those Ocarina tunes are just so indelible. Still, the musicianship is impeccable, and it’s a lovely, relaxing sound to ease you out of a long, long week.
