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| 4.416 Ft
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| 1. | El Cordobes
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| 2. | Capricorn
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| 3. | King Korn
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| 4. | Dreams
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| 5. | Syndrome
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| 6. | Gesture Without Plot
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| 7. | Ictus
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Jazz
Paul Bley - Fender Electric Piano, Piano, Piano (Electric), Synthesizer
Barry Altschul - Drums, Percussion
Dave Holland - Bass
* James E. Vickers - Engineer
* Orrin Keepnews - Producer
* Tony Lane - Art Direction
The Milestone label released several of this artist's better records in which he flirts, indeed gets seriously involved, with electronic keyboards. This one is the album where he goes head over heels for the electric piano, and fans of jazz with that Fender Rhodes sound are going to want it, even if the photographer decided to make the normally dignified pianist look like Pinnochio in both of the shots. Paul Bley sits at a bank of keyboards here, giving forth a passage on acoustic, then some chirping synthesizer, then some electric piano, and so forth. There is also a rhythm section of drummer Barry Altschul and bassist Dave Holland, the same team that worked brilliantly in this period behind both Anthony Braxton and Sam Rivers. The repertoire is from this pianist's main briefcase, that is his own tunes and those of both Carla Bley and Annette Peacock. The former's kooky "King Korn" starts off with a romp, and it is a good thing since practically nothing at all happened in the previous five minutes of "Capricorn," perhaps not such an accurate portrait of the astrological sign of both James Brown and Richard Nixon. Nothing seems to be happening on quite a bit of this record, since Bley is deep into his playing slow quest. A pity the electric piano conveys so much less of his personal musical feel, not that the instrument is incapable of it, just that Bley doesn't deliver. He also seems distracted by the banks of available keyboards, and the aforementioned Carla Bley cover is a mess as a result. Holland appears to be listening to no one, but plays a lot of notes. Altschul plays stupidly, with a totally false sense of intensity. Another Carla Bley treatment opens the second side and at first seems a "Syndrome" of some change in approach, as harsher synthesizer sounds at first dominate. Soon it is the same sing-song, groovy electric piano swinging, but it sounds great, particularly the sizzling cymbals of Altschul. The maestro switches to a synthesizer tone that brings to mind a drunk whistling through a busted megaphone. It is cool, to be sure, but the unrelenting cymbal splashing and hectic walking bass now begin to seem obnoxious. A version of "A Gesture Without Plot" by Peacock assumes centerpiece status simply because of its ability to speak volumes about the awkwardness of this session; in every track except the ones like this where Bley is playing really, really slow, there is a sense that everyone is just rushing through things. Holland really comes through with an extraordinary bass solo on this, the longest piece of the album. This album, combined with the messy collaboration involving Jaco Pastorious, are the beginnings of a case that no one has recorded more bad covers of Carla Bley tunes than Paul Bley. Perhaps it's intentional: What better way to get back at an ex-wife?
---Eugene Chadbourne, All Music Guide
Paul Bley
Active Decades: '50s, '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s and '00s
Born: Nov 10, 1932 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Genre: Jazz
Styles: Avant-Garde Jazz, Free Improvisation, Free Jazz, Modern Creative, Modern Free, Post-Bop, Progressive Jazz
Paul Bley has long offered avant-garde pianists an alternative approach to improvising than that of Cecil Taylor. Bley has been able to use melody and space in inventive ways while performing fairly free improvisations. He started on piano at age eight, studied at Juilliard during 1950-1952, and in 1953 played with Charlie Parker on a Canadian television show; the soundtrack serves as his recording debut. After recording for Charles Mingus' Debut label in 1953, he moved to New York. Following a stint with Jackie McLean's quintet, he relocated to Los Angeles. Bley played with Chet Baker and then in 1958 played at the Hillcrest with musicians who would soon form the Ornette Coleman Quartet: Coleman, Don Cherry, Charlie Haden, and Billy Higgins. He soon returned to New York, played and recorded with Charles Mingus and Don Ellis, was part of the Jimmy Giuffre 3 (which also included Steve Swallow), and was married to the talented up-and-coming pianist/composer Carla Bley. After leading his own trio, Bley spent much of 1963 with Sonny Rollins' group. He participated in the famous October Revolution in Jazz in 1964 and was a founding member of the Jazz Composers Guild. He recorded frequently with his trios, for a few years experimented with electronics with his second wife, Annette Peacock, and then in 1974 founded his Improvising Artists label. Virtually all of that short-lived label's output has been reissued on CD by Black SaintSoul Note. Since the mid-'70s, Bley has recorded a countless number of albums for literally dozens of labels (once cutting two albums in the same day, in two different countries). Bley continued his prolific recording practices post-2000, releasing a bevy of albums including Sankt Gerold in 2001, Nothing to Declare in 2004, and Solo in Mondsee in 2007, among others. About Time, a set featuring Bley solo at the piano, appeared in 2008. A key link between Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett, Bley's adventurous yet thoughtful playing sounds like no one else.
---Scott Yanow, All Music Guide |
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