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Paul Bley


Daniel A

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Excellent news from Paul Bley! Thanks, Allen for infilling us!

Paul is one of the nicest musician I ever met. And one of the most articulate!

Laton, that GNP album 'Solemn Meditation'is excellent early Bley. Beautifil rendition of 'I Remember Harlem' on it. There's Dave Pike, a very young Charlie Haden and Lennie McBrowne on drums.

Liner notes to my vinyl - it looks better than the one on the image you posted - has liner notes by one Carla Borg. That Carla Borg also penned one composition for this album 'O Plus One'.

Carla Borg ?!?

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Laton, that GNP album 'Solemn Meditation'is excellent early Bley. Beautifil rendition of 'I Remember Harlem' on it. There's Dave Pike, a very young Charlie Haden and Lennie McBrowne on drums.

Liner notes to my vinyl - it looks better than the one on the image you posted - has liner notes by one Carla Borg. That Carla Borg also penned one composition for this album 'O Plus One'.

Yeah, I dig that one too. Charlie Haden's first recording, IIRC.

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just to add a little Paul Bley news; he called me about a month ago to see he's just had hip-replacement surgery and is feeling great -

So who can I call to see if I have had hip replacement therapy. I mean, I don't think I have, but... I need to really know for sure...

;)

Edited by David Ayers
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I don't have any Paul Bley albums. In fact, I'm not even sure I know what Paul Bley's playing sounds like.

1. Should I be ashamed?

Considering the replies, and I support most of the above suggestions, you should! :D

P.S. I also love a lesser known but excellent record Paul Bley Trio, on Radio Canada International label, recorded in Montral 1968, with Mario Pavone on bass and Barry Altschul on drums

That one is hopelessly oop, I guess? :(

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I don't have any Paul Bley albums. In fact, I'm not even sure I know what Paul Bley's playing sounds like.

1. Should I be ashamed?

Considering the replies, and I support most of the above suggestions, you should! :D

P.S. I also love a lesser known but excellent record Paul Bley Trio, on Radio Canada International label, recorded in Montral 1968, with Mario Pavone on bass and Barry Altschul on drums

That one is hopelessly oop, I guess? :(

I doubt it's on CD, though it was pressed at least twice on LP (there are two jackets for it). I'm not sure how those RCI things worked - if they were commercially distributed or not - but it's worth seeking out if you can do vinyl. My deepgroove wasn't cheap, though.

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Nice to see this thread pop up after a few years of hiding (before I was on the board). I only have Introducing Paul Bley on Debut and Not Two, Not One on ECM, and the Montreal date with Charlie Haden and Paul Motian. I think I should listen to the Debut lp and reacquaint myself, as it's been a while. I agree with the Jarrett comparison. I never thought about it before, but yeah, that's as close to someone else as he gets to my ears. Thanks to all the suggestions, I have a list to work from too.

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The Chadbourne review seems fine to me, he's simply commenting on the BYG reissue of the album. Is Footloose currently in print? If so, it's an excellent place to start with Bley. Great, great music, & yeah, you can tell that JArrett copped a lot off this album in particular.

Another favourite Bley performance is his duet with Bill Evans on George Russell's Jazz in the Space Age--easily the most way-out thing Evans ever did. -- & Bley's performances on that Giuffre 2fer from Hatology are extraordinary, even better than the studio albums.

Agree, these are very important records, music I'm listening to from the '80s without any bore.

I think another landmark in Bley's music is his contribution in the Sonny Rollins group (early '60 RCA years) that produced the epocal "Sonny Meets Hawk".

That Charlie Haden Montreal Tapes cd dedicated to the Bley/Haden/Motian is magical music for me (and magical live captured sound).

Edited by ArmandoPeraza
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Bley has very amusing stories about the whole Sonny Meets Hawk session - I think it's in his book, but to summarize quickly, Sonny was trying to throw Hawkins off, confuse him so he'd get lost; Hawkins stood next to Bley and had Paul cue him in in the right places. I love strories like these; Rollins, for all his diffidence on the record about musical matters, is the most competitive of musicians.

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He not only was the first guy to hire Ornette, but was playing "free" duets with a trumpeter (whose name escapes me) in the 1950s -

That was probably Herbie Spanier(sp?) a fellow Canadian.

When saw Imagine the Sound a cojuple of weeks ago I was struck by how much I liked Bley's playing in it. (And that was after some spectacular Cecil Taylor.)

BTW Is there a cd available of his group with Ornette?

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ther Ornette sessions from the Hillcrest have been on CD (I have one issued from Italy), but they come and go very quickly - and yes, it was Spanier - Paul told me he has a tape somewhere of them playing "free" in the 1950s, but I'm not sure that he's been able to find it -

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These are the Paul Bley recordings as leader that I most enjoy.

Early Trios - Fresh Sound

Footloose (trio) - Savoy

If We May (trio) - Steeplechase

The Nearness Of You (trio) - Steeplechase

Bebop (trio) - Steeplechase

My Standard (trio) - Steeplechase

Live Again (duo) - Steeplechase

Solo Piano - Steeplechase

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