Jazz Articles about Paul Motian

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Paul Motian: Live at the Village Vanguard - Vol. 1

by AAJ Italy Staff
March 4, 2008

Un'occhiata ai titoli dei brani, con quello “Standard Time" in bella evidenza, seguito da “If You Could See Me Now", mi ha fatto temere il peggio. Non sono infatti un grande estimatore degli standard. E dunque ... Non appena ho messo il CD nel lettore, tuttavia, i miei timori sono stati spazzati via da un incipit tipicamente Motianiano, con accenti spostati ed armonie assolutamente contemporanee. Ritornato in pace con il CD (che sciocco che ero stato a dubitare di Motian!), ...

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The Paul Motian Octet at Birdland, NYC

by Budd Kopman
February 12, 2008

Paul Motian OctetBirdlandNew York City, New YorkJanuary 31, 2008 It is always a treat to be able to hear a group live that made a deep impression on record. This band was basically that on Motian's release Garden of Eden (ECM, 2006), with a few additions and subtractions. Instead of three guitarists, there were two, Ben Monder and Steve Cardenas, stage left. Both of the saxophonists from the recording, Tony Malaby and Chris Cheek, ...

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Paul Motian: Live at the Village Vanguard, Vol. 1

by Francis Lo Kee
February 5, 2008

What has always been beautiful about drummer/composer Paul Motian is his use of space or silence. His concept seems to be more about letting creative voices come through the total texture. Sometimes the voice is the drum, but sometimes it is sax or piano and Motian plays ideally, regardless of textural setting. Speaking of piano, Masabumi Kikuchi's playing on this live recording is consistently striking. Motian has played with some of the greatest pianists in the history of the music, ...

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Jakob Bro: Pearl River

by Jakob Baekgaard
August 8, 2007

Sometimes, finding a good jazz record is a bit like fishing: either you catch something or you don't. The search is always on for that particular phrase, beat or tune that will transport the mind to a state of bliss: the state called jazz. Coming across an album like Pearl River seems like a lucky find. Like finding a pearl in a river. But there's more than plain luck involved in the case of Danish guitarist Jakob Bro. ...

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Paul Motian: Time and Time Again

by AAJ Italy Staff
May 3, 2007

C’è un qualcosa di indefinito nella musica di Paul Motian che sembra strettamente connesso alla nozione di tempo. Sarà quel modo così parsimonioso e così poco percussivo di suonare (e mai come in questo caso il verbo rende l’idea della musicalità insita nel tocco del maestro), saranno quelle composizioni scritte con spiccato gusto per la dilatazione e le strutture irrisolte, sarà che a settantacinque anni passati il batterista licenzia dischi di valore con una puntualità sconcertante (è passato meno di ...

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Paul Motian: Time and Time Again

by Budd Kopman
May 1, 2007

The word abstract, when applied to jazz or music in general, is that which has little or none of the components that provide the mind, through the ears, structure and form through repetition. Most would agree that rhythm is the most basic in that the repetition of groups of beats and the accents upon them quickly gives structure and allows almost anything else to happen over it. Harmony and melody are the other two components that can ...

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Perpetual Motian: An Old Cat with New Tricks

by Tom Greenland
April 7, 2007

Enrico Pieranunzi/Marc Johnson/Paul Motian Untold Story Egea 2007 Joe Lovano/Bill Frisell/Paul Motian Time & Time Again ECM 2007

Having circumnavigated the sun for over three-quarters of a century now, drummer Paul Motian shows no signs of altering his orbital momentum; two meetings with old friends demonstrate his freshness and vitality--his eternal ...