Jazz Articles about Paul Motian

About Paul Motian

Multiple Reviews

Paul Motian (born 1931, Philadelphia) has had a long career and is widely considered one of the most influential modern drummers, accentuating melodic aspects while downplaying timekeeping. While he obviously can keep time, as evidenced by his early work with the Bill Evans trio (1959-1962) at first with Scott LaFaro on bass and then Chuck Israels, Motian became emblematic as a melodic drummer who filled the third equal part of the trio. He then left Evans, working with Paul Bley, ...

178

Album Review

Paul Motian Band: Garden of Eden

Read "Garden of Eden" reviewed by Troy Collins

by Troy Collins
March 6, 2006

Despite the passage of time, drummer Paul Motian, now 75, continues to develop his singular take on jazz tradition while simultaneously exploring its storied history. Altering his much-lauded Electric Bebop Band by adding a third guitarist to the mix, Motian makes a break with recent convention. Forsaking another album primarily dependent on rearranged bop standards, Motian presents a program of predominantly original material. Bookended by classic standards, Motian still makes room to pay homage to the masters, but this time ...

129

Album Review

Paul Motian Band: Garden of Eden

Read "Garden of Eden" reviewed by Sean Patrick Fitzell

by Sean Patrick Fitzell
March 4, 2006

For about the last fifteen years, drummer Paul Motian has explored the possibilities of two guitars, two saxophones, bass and drums with his Electric Bebop Band. Always drawing from a revolving cast of younger, emergent musicians, he augments the lineup with another guitar on Garden of Eden. Though a septet with this instrumentation could easily become dense and busy, the tunes are carefully arranged and skillfully executed with a billowy lightness. Saxophonists Tony Malaby and Chris Cheek ...

206

Album Review

Paul Motian: At The Village Vanguard

Read "At The Village Vanguard" reviewed by Abe Pollack

by Abe Pollack
February 23, 2006

Paul Motian's longstanding trio is considered one of the greatest jazz bands of today, if not all time. With guitarist Bill Frisell and tenor man Joe Lovano working in symbiotic melody and harmony, Motian has the freedom to showcase his use of color and texture. These musicians approach a standard as if it were an original, with just as much conviction and respect for the melody as if they had written it themselves. Over twenty years, this ...

378

Album Review

Joe Lovano: I'm All for You

Read "I'm All for You" reviewed by Samuel Chell

by Samuel Chell
February 20, 2006

No instrument is more synonymous with jazz than the tenor saxophone, due equally to the expressive capabilities of the horn and the legacy of great players who have been attracted to it. On the evidence of Down Beat readers' and critics' polls over the past decade, Joe Lovano would appear to be the favorite among contenders for the top spot among present-day tenor titans. Is he one of the giants? Perhaps, though one might be hard-pressed to make the case ...

143

Album Review

Paul Motian Band: Garden Of Eden

Read "Garden Of Eden" reviewed by Chris May

by Chris May
January 24, 2006

On Garden Of Eden, Paul Motian's Electric Bebop Band shortens its name and lengthens its stride to present a new artistic agenda. Recalibrations of the bop and hard bop repertoires stay on the bill, but only in a supporting role: the main event now is original material, most of it composed by Motian. (Nine of the fourteen tracks are originals, seven of them written by Motian, plus one each from saxophonist Chris Cheek and guitarist Steve Cardenas.) ...

328

Album Review

Paul Motian Band: Garden of Eden

Read "Garden of Eden" reviewed by Budd Kopman

by Budd Kopman
January 22, 2006

If Gabriel Garcia Marquez's 100 Years of Solitude had been put to music, it might have sounded like Garden of Eden. That novel has a feeling of timelessness, fecund vegetation, thick air, filtered sunlight, and a natural beauty that is almost frightening in its immediacy and intensity. The history of this group goes back to the early '90s and Motian's Electric Bebop Band, whose first edition had Joshua Redman and Chris Potter on saxophones, with Kurt Rosenwinkel ...