JRR - my weekly online education with the unrivalled Shipton!
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SUCH a sick album. Completely ecstatic (I'm listening again BTW).Originally posted by Joseph K View PostMiles Smiles
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Regarding Paul Bley, I don't think his approach was minimalist and is better described as being economic. He was a virtuoso pianist and, for my money, probably better at immediately getting in to the "zone" than any other of his fellow pianists and a good proportion of other instrumentalists. He never played more notes than he had to and whilst he employed space extremely effectively, this was totally different to how players like Basie or Monk tackled the same issue. I suppose that there is a similarity in some respects to the approach of Andrew Hill although they both sounded totally different.
I probably have more records by Paul Bley than anyone else in my collection other than Miles Davis. He is a player who has fascinated me for thirty years. The comparison with Cecil Taylor quickly reveals a marked contrast. I find Taylor fascinating yet not always agreeable to listen to, even if I think he was probably one of the greatest ever jazz pianists. The atonality of Taylor's music makes listening to him for long periods a challenge. When you can hear the influence of Ellington shining through, I find his music more approachable. He does not have the lyricism of Paul Bley's playing and I personally do not find Taylor as compelling to listen to as Paul Bley.
The article with Matthew Shipp fascinated me and was extremely inciteful. I love reading how pianists tackle improvisation and what elements of the music they consider to be most important. Cecil Taylor seems to tower above everyone else if you want to consider the "freeness" of his playing but there are some performances by Herbie Hancock on records like "The Happenings" with Bobby Hutcherson where I think he manages to go completely "outside" yet within a tonal context. Part of me things this is more impressive than a atonal approach because the process is about pushing the music as far as it will go without breaking as opposed to starting from a point where the harmonic language has been smashed up to begin with. You can also hear a similar approach with players like John Taylor. I have to admit that I love those pianists who perform with a rich, harmonic palette.
If it is still available, I would strongly recommend the 10 CD box set on Soul Note of Paul Bley's performances in the 80s and 90's. There are a few albums in the collection such as "Tango Palace" and the duet with Paul Motian called "Notes" which might be considered essential. However, I think a lot of the other stuff in this set is salutary because even on unfamiliar sets such as the duet with the Canadian percussionist whose name escapes me, Bley is always consistently focussed. He is like the ultimate puzzle solver. The set also includes a trio with Tony Oxley which I think is called "Chaos." The music is anything but. For most pianists, this kind of stuff would represent a career high yet Paul Bley seemed able to pull out the stops time and time again. There are many pianists whose playing I am in awe of whether it is Jelly Roll Morton, Earl Hines, Teddy Wilson, Thelonious Monk, Hampton Hawes, Kenny Barron, Herbie Nichols, Andrew Hill, McCoy Tyner or Herbie Nichols. I love their music for different reasons. In addition, there are other great pianists like Fats Waller, Bill Evans, Cecil Taylor, Brad Mehldau , Chick Corea , etc who I admire but not necessarily appreciate everything that they do or particularly like throughout their recording careers. You cannot deny their brilliance. I still respect their music. On top of this, I sometimes find myself scratching my head thinking that pianists like Wynton Kelly, Mary Lou Williams, Lennie Tristano, Hank Jones, Bobo Stenson or even Eri Yamamoto do not get the attention or credit they deserve, even if their names may be familiar. My impression of Paul Bley is somewhat different from all of these. He is one of those musicians you can pick up a recording by and be guaranteed that there will be no b/s and he will be giving 100% focus on his playing. Even at his most wayward and abstract, he remains compelling . The same remains when he tackle standards where I think he is actually a more sincere performer than Bill Evans whose chief metier this is. I feel that , no matter how abstract or challenging Bley's playing could be, ultimately there was a lyricism which underpinned it and he always contrived for the music to make sense. It was never playing outside just for the sake of it.
Because of the harmonic and rhythmic challenges of playing solo piano and the need to make harmonic sense of the innovations of horn soloists, I have long since believed that it has been the pianists who have been the true heroes of jazz. In my opinion, Paul Bley was one of the greatest.Comment
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Slick, I would thick.Originally posted by Joseph K View Post
(Today seems to be Malapropism Day - Ian writing "inciteful" in the above post. I'm sure Ian would be the last person in the world to advocate provocation, of any kind!!!)Last edited by Serial_Apologist; 24-05-20, 22:01.Comment
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'Sick' was no malapropism.
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‘Glide On’ - Bill Jennings
with Jack McDuff, Al Jennings, Wendell Marshall & Alvin Johnson
Prestige (1960)Comment
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I had never heard this expression before until I went to the workshop with Tigran a few years back. He used the phrase continuously albeit often in conjunction with favoured "death metal" bands.Originally posted by Joseph K View Post'Sick' was no malapropism.Comment
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Freddie Roach with Joe Henderson, Eddie Wright & Clarence Johnston playing 'Night Time, Is The Right Time' from the 1964 album 'Brown Sugar':
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The first disk of the first bootleg Miles box.
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Miles Davis - Four and More
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Dizzy Gillespie - In Greece (from disk 7 of the aforementioned boxed set).Comment
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'Bluesin' Around' - Kenny Burrell
with Eddie Bert, Illinois Jacquet, Leo Wright, Hank Jones, George Duvivier, Major Holley, Osie Johnson, Louis Hayes, Jimmy Crawford, Joe Dukes
Columbia (1962)Comment
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Hampton Hawes & Charlie Haden playing Ornette Coleman's 'Turnaround' in 1976.
I notice that some Amazon seller is asking £1317.14(with free postage!) for the Haden/Hawes duets album 'As Long As There's Music':
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