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Paul Bley / Franz Koglmann / Gary Peacock: Annette
by Raul d'Gama Rose
Those familiar with the music of Paul Bley, as well as Annette Peacock--after whom this album is named, and whose compositions are featured--will recall the nervy sense of creativity that flowed through their veins and music. In fact, the manner in which Peacock's work is described also fits Bley; both play music that is austere, exacting, somewhat laconic, minimalist and always wildly individual, which is what makes it so sensual, singular and utterly memorable. And while Bley's music has always ...
Continue ReadingPaul Bley: Barrage
by Stuart Broomer
At times circumstance conspires to hide a masterpiece: it may be the artist's lack of reputation; perhaps it doesn't resemble his more typical works or it's just overshadowed by more prominent or better promoted music. Paul Bley's Barrage is such a work. Produced in 1964 when most of the band was unknown, it's a singularly non-lyrical and non-spacious work by a pianist celebrated for those qualities; further, it was issued in the midst of Coltrane and Ayler's greatest statements. Nonetheless, ...
Continue ReadingPaul Bley: Barrage
by Raul d'Gama Rose
Music performed by Paul Bley is always an event of great import--no matter where or when, or in what context it is performed. But with Barrage this was the roaring '60s. Charlie Parker, who had set the world on fire, had left a meteoric legacy and in the after-burn came the smoldering avant-garde. Ornette Coleman may have defined part of the leading edge of the harmolodic music of the day, but it was the rhythmic invention that bound the melody. ...
Continue ReadingPaul Bley: Closer
by AAJ Italy Staff
Dopo Barrage (ESP 1008), Closer è il secondo e ultimo disco che Paul Bley registrò, nel dicembre del 1965, per la ESP. Definirlo un capolavoro è quanto meno ovvio, eppure riascoltando questa rapida successione di composizioni brevi e geniali è quasi inevitabile riscoprire ancora una volta tutta la gigantesca originalità dello straordinario pianista canadese. In questo lavoro la spiazzante progressione libera, ricca di accordi ricercati lungo una successione alterata rimane a più di quarant’anni, e dopo decine di dischi, uno ...
Continue ReadingPaul Bley: Barrage
by Lyn Horton
Recorded a year earlier than the previous ESP re-released Paul Bley Trio session, Closer (ESP Disk, 2008), Barrage takes an approach that tends toward the frenetic. In fact, judging from the very beginning of the record when the trumpet and sax synchronize in a group of short phrase spurts ("Batterie"), the music seems to deconstruct bebop, go on diverse tangents and then conclude in a synchronous reprise. Such a pattern exists throughout all of the pieces on the record.
Continue ReadingPaul Bley Quintet: Barrage
by Jerry D'Souza
Pianist Paul Bley recorded two albums for ESP Disk. The first was Barrage in 1964, the second was Closer in 1965. On the first Bley used Marshall Allen (alto sax), Dewey Johnson (trumpet), Eddie Gomez (bass) and Milford Graves (percussion). The latter was a more intimate outing with Steve Swallow (bass) and Barry Altschul (percussion). If there was a common thread besides Bley, it was the use of compositions by Carla Bley. Barrage was devoted completely to her music and ...
Continue ReadingPaul Bley: About Time
by Jerry D'Souza
Pianist Paul Bley has set many milestones along his illustrious career, taking the piano on undiscovered paths and fermenting his art with unbridled imagination. Risk has never daunted him, and even as he takes it, he keeps logic in lockstep.He is as much at home in avant-garde and free explorations as he is in giving the mainstream a new sparkle, and for a time, even tinkering with electronics. The call to experiment is ever present, wrapped compactly into ...
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