Jazz Articles about Paul Motian

Paul Bley - Gary Peacock - Paul Motian: Not Two, Not One

by Glenn Astarita
December 1, 1999

Not Two, Not One is the first recording featuring Paul Bley, Paul Motian and Gary Peacock as a working unit since Bley’s 1970 ECM recording titled, “Paul Bley with Gary Peacock”. Twenty-nine years later they reunite as the overall results prove to be substantially rewarding. Aided by ECM’s trademark pristine sound quality and masterful engineering by James Farber, these gentlemen once again display the meritorious attributes befitting of their respective importance in modern jazz history.

On “Not Zero: In Three ...

Paul Bley/Gary Peacock/Paul Motian: Not Two, Not One

by David Adler
December 1, 1999

Despite its esoteric thrust, this music is suffused with the classic sound of the jazz piano trio. And if anyone knows the format inside and out, it’s these three men. Pianist Paul Bley started out as a bebopper in the 50s, playing trio with Mingus and Art Blakey. A decade later, drummer Paul Motian played a key role in Bill Evans’s reinvention of the trio concept. Later still, bassist Gary Peacock furthered the idiom’s evolution in a long-standing association with ...

Paul Motian & The Electric Bebop Band: Play Monk and Powell

by Ed Kopp
November 1, 1999

When you think about Thelonious Monk's or Bud Powell’s music, you think of the piano, the instrument of choice for those two eccentric legends. Drummer Paul Motian adopts a different approach to Monk and Powell with his piano-less Electric Bebop Band.The name might lead you to believe that this is a fusion outfit, but its music is actually straight-ahead jazz of a very modern variety. Motian’s group includes two electric guitarists (Kurt Rosenwinkel and Steve Cardenas), an electric ...

Paul Motian and The Electric BeBop Band: Play Monk and Powell

by Glenn Astarita
November 1, 1999

It’s no secret that drummer-composer-bandleader Paul Motian adores “Monk”. Throughout his recording career, Motian generally manages to squeeze in a Monk number or two. Here, on the latest installment of Motian’s “Electric BeBop Band”, the band perform Monk and Bud Powell compositions as the CD is aptly titled, ..... Play Monk and Powell. Following up his previous release for Winter & Winter, Flight Of The BlueJay, Motian along with the potent frontline of saxophonists Chris Potter and Chris Cheeks and ...

Paul Bley/Gary Peacock/Paul Motian: Not Two, Not One

by C. Andrew Hovan
November 1, 1999

In a league by himself, pianist Paul Bley's art is one that has involved taking the road less traveled. He uses the jazz vocabulary in a way that is distinctive and varies from the norm, much in the manner that Hemingway or Gertrude Stein created sentences and paragraphs that skirted typical conventions. For this new ECM release, Bley teams up with bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Paul Motian for the first time on record in several decades. The compatibility factor ...

Alan Pasqua: Dedications

by Glenn Astarita
September 1, 1999

Originally released in 1995 on the Postcards label, now owned by Arkadia Records, Dedications is pianist-composer Alan Pasqua's second release for the label which followed the critically acclaimed Milagro. On Dedications, Pasqua reaps the benefits of an all-star supporting cast which includes the mighty rhythm section of drummer Paul Motian and bassist Dave Holland. Pasqua, along with the talented horns of Randy Brecker, Michael Brecker and Gary Bartz, offers a generous mix whether performing in piano trio mode or utilizing ...

Paul Motian: Trio 2000 + One

by Glenn Astarita
June 1, 1999

The great drummer Paul Motian has enjoyed a lengthy and quite fruitful relationship with Stefan Winter of JMT Records, which eventually regrouped or reformed as the Winter & Winter label. During his association with Stefan Winter’s various record labels, Motian has also released a few “groundbreaking or perhaps trend setting modern jazz recordings, namely his Trio efforts with Bill Frisell and Joe Lovano. On Paul Motian Trio 2000 + One, Motian enlists the fine and perhaps budding “superstar” saxophonist Chris ...