Is Paul Bley Retired?

[Justin V]

I can never seem to find tour dates for him and I definitely would love to see him perform. Is he still performing in public? If so, what is the best way to find out about his concerts? Thanks.

[Pete C]

I think he's just slowed down. He had a hip replacement recently and I've heard that helped him a lot. Frank Kimbrough would know--he has a thread on another board...

[Tom Storer]

I saw Bley last year. He played beautifully, a fantastic solo concert, but was walking slowly and with difficulty. I guess this was before the hip replacement, so maybe that will help him get out more.

[Head Man]

We should ALL get out more!

[Kevin Bresnahan]

I imagine recovery from a major surgery like a hip replacement is very difficult for a 79 old. Just like everything else when you get older, it takes a lot longer to heal.

[Tom Storer]

Yeah, that would be it, at the Cité de la Musique. Doesn't seem that long ago! I brought a friend who is pretty new to jazz and he said he thought Bley sounded a lot like Keith Jarrett sometimes.

[fomafomic65]

Yeah, that would be it, at the Cité de la Musique. Doesn't seem that long ago! I brought a friend who is pretty new to jazz and he said he thought Bley sounded a lot like Keith Jarrett sometimes.

A b s o l u t e l y true.

Just, truth is it's the other way around. Listen to George Russell's Jazz In The Space Age (1060), Sonny Rollins' Sonny Meets Hawk (1963). Jarrett himself -as others- took inspiration from him.

[AllenLowe]

I talked to Paul last Fall and he said he was well - his hip has healed perfectly, as he told me.

[Justin V]

Thanks for all of your responses. I recently purchased Ramblin', and it is one my better recent CD purchases. Altschul seems like the ideal partner for Bley.

[Pete C]

Thanks for all of your responses. I recently purchased Ramblin', and it is one my better recent CD purchases. Altschul seems like the ideal partner for Bley.

Altschul and Motian are both very different drummers, and both perfect for Bley. I don't find that the Bley/Oxley combo really works, and I'm pretty sure that was Eicher's idea.

[Justin V]

Thanks for all of your responses. I recently purchased Ramblin', and it is one my better recent CD purchases. Altschul seems like the ideal partner for Bley.

Altschul and Motian are both very different drummers, and both perfect for Bley. I don't find that the Bley/Oxley combo really works, and I'm pretty sure that was Eicher's idea.

The only album I have with Bley and Motian is Notes, which may have been irreparably damaged when it fell out of my car. What albums would you recommend?

[Pete C]

The only album I have with Bley and Motian is Notes, which may have been irreparably damaged when it fell out of my car. What albums would you recommend?

Not Two, Not One, on ECM, with Peacock. IMO, easily one of the 10 greatest piano trio albums of all time.

[mjzee]

I really like "The Paul Bley Quartet" (catchy title, huh?) on ECM, with Surman, Frisell and Motian.

[clifford_thornton]

with Gary Peacock and Turning Point also have some nice Motian bits.

[Pete C]

I really like "The Paul Bley Quartet" (catchy title, huh?) on ECM, with Surman, Frisell and Motian.

I think there may be two albums with that lineup, as well as two with Evan Parker, Barre Phillips and Tony Oxley, and both of those Eicher-assembled groups leave me cold. I just don't think they gel.

[mjazzg]

I really like "The Paul Bley Quartet" (catchy title, huh?) on ECM, with Surman, Frisell and Motian.

I think there may be two albums with that lineup, as well as two with Evan Parker, Barre Phillips and Tony Oxley, and both of those Eicher-assembled groups leave me cold. I just don't think they gel.

I hear the Bley, Parker, Phillips trio as very successful, an update and development of a giuffre trio in an oblique way. They are both trios, no Oxley.

Oxley appears with Bley only on two ECM releases. under Surman's name on "Adventure playground" and the collective attribution "In the evenings out there" - both from the same session, I believe - Surman, Bley, Oxley, Phillips. Again, works for me, fine playing by all

[A Lark Ascending]

I really like "The Paul Bley Quartet" (catchy title, huh?) on ECM, with Surman, Frisell and Motian.

I think there may be two albums with that lineup, as well as two with Evan Parker, Barre Phillips and Tony Oxley, and both of those Eicher-assembled groups leave me cold. I just don't think they gel.

I hear the Bley, Parker, Phillips trio as very successful, an update and development of a giuffre trio in an oblique way. They are both trios, no Oxley.

Oxley appears with Bley only on two ECM releases. under Surman's name on "Adventure playground" and the collective attribution "In the evenings out there" - both from the same session, I believe - Surman, Bley, Oxley, Phillips. Again, works for me, fine playing by all

I like them too.

Though it's 'Not Two, Not One' that I particularly like of those later ECMs.

I don't think it's a matter of what works. Just different musicians going at it different ways.

Though given that it's now known that Manfred has taken the the next step in his conspiracy and bought the whole Blue Note and Fantasy catalogues with the intention of deleting them and remastering them in Munich, who knows what dastardly designs he had here.

[JETman]

I really like "The Paul Bley Quartet" (catchy title, huh?) on ECM, with Surman, Frisell and Motian.

I think there may be two albums with that lineup, as well as two with Evan Parker, Barre Phillips and Tony Oxley, and both of those Eicher-assembled groups leave me cold. I just don't think they gel.

I hear the Bley, Parker, Phillips trio as very successful, an update and development of a giuffre trio in an oblique way. They are both trios, no Oxley.

Oxley appears with Bley only on two ECM releases. under Surman's name on "Adventure playground" and the collective attribution "In the evenings out there" - both from the same session, I believe - Surman, Bley, Oxley, Phillips. Again, works for me, fine playing by all

I like them too.

Though it's 'Not Two, Not One' that I particularly like of those later ECMs.

I don't think it's a matter of what works. Just different musicians going at it different ways.

Though given that it's now known that Manfred has taken the the next step in his conspiracy and bought the whole Blue Note and Fantasy catalogues with the intention of deleting them and remastering them in Munich, who knows what dastardly designs he had here.

I know right --- that SOB.

If you're more worried about the sound, you just aren't listening to the music. Who cares whose idea what was. If the music moves you, that's what counts. I find the comments made about this, especially by one of our resident musicians upstream, quite surprising. Many of his contemporaries have absolutely no problem working with Eicher, and some even relish the opportunity to be given a platform to have their music heard.

[Pete C]

I hear the Bley, Parker, Phillips trio as very successful, an update and development of a giuffre trio in an oblique way. They are both trios, no Oxley.

Oxley appears with Bley only on two ECM releases. under Surman's name on "Adventure playground" and the collective attribution "In the evenings out there" - both from the same session, I believe - Surman, Bley, Oxley, Phillips. Again, works for me, fine playing by all

Right you are about those lineups. Now that I'm clearer on the particulars, I'll agree on the drummerless trio. I have Sankt Gerold, but I think there was an earlier one. It's definitely in the tradition of the Giuffre trio, but (not surprisingly given it wasn't a working band) without the same level of telepathy.

It's the Surman/Oxley and Surman/Frisell lineups that don't click for me. I think in one case Bley/Oxley isn't working for me and in the other it's Bley/Frisell--and I'm quite fond of both Oxley and Frisell. I didn't intend my comment about Eicher as a put-down, I was just noting that, according to Bley those were producer-arranged groups.

[JETman]

And I'm just noting that all the ECM bashing is tiresome. Nobody twists the arms of musicians to become musicians. So they must learn to deal with the landscape they exist in. And not bitch about it.

You've recorded for Teekens. Did you find him less "Kaiser"-like than Eicher?

[Pete C]

You've recorded for Teekens. Did you find him less "Kaiser"-like than Eicher?

You're mistaking me for someone else.

[JETman]

You've recorded for Teekens. Did you find him less "Kaiser"-like than Eicher?

You're mistaking me for someone else.

sorry, thought you were christlieb!

[mjazzg]

I hear the Bley, Parker, Phillips trio as very successful, an update and development of a giuffre trio in an oblique way. They are both trios, no Oxley.

Oxley appears with Bley only on two ECM releases. under Surman's name on "Adventure playground" and the collective attribution "In the evenings out there" - both from the same session, I believe - Surman, Bley, Oxley, Phillips. Again, works for me, fine playing by all

Right you are about those lineups. Now that I'm clearer on the particulars, I'll agree on the drummerless trio. I have Sankt Gerold, but I think there was an earlier one. It's definitely in the tradition of the Giuffre trio, but (not surprisingly given it wasn't a working band) without the same level of telepathy.

It's the Surman/Oxley and Surman/Frisell lineups that don't click for me. I think in one case Bley/Oxley isn't working for me and in the other it's Bley/Frisell--and I'm quite fond of both Oxley and Frisell. I didn't intend my comment about Eicher as a put-down, I was just noting that, according to Bley those were producer-arranged groups.

I would agree to some extent about the Frisell/Surman - something not quite working there,as i hear it

[Pete C]

I had forgotten up until now of a Bley/Oxley meeting that does work for me, Chaos. Here I think Bley goes further toward meeting Oxley on mutually fertile ground.

My coolness toward the other outings may have something to do with Surman's presence too. For me, both Surman and Jan Garbarek took similar paths by the mid-to-late '70s that leave me quite cold compared to their very intense earlier work. I suspect that at one time Garbarek would have made a natural partner for Bley, considering how well his sound married with Jarrett.

Edited March 25, 2012 by Pete C

[A Lark Ascending]

My coolness toward the other outings may have something to do with Surman's presence too. For me, both Surman and Jan Garbarek took similar paths by the mid-to-late '70s that leave me quite cold compared to their very intense earlier work. I suspect that at one time Garbarek would have made a natural partner for Bley, considering how well his sound married with Jarrett.

Where I don't hear anything remotely 'cold' in Surman. What I do hear is a change of path that draws from a very different tradition - that of his own country rather than that of American jazz - and produces a very different music. I can see why that might sound 'cold' to ears not aligned to that different tradition. I find Surman just as engaging as in his early days, just less prone to 'boil over'. Which is what happens to most of us as we age. He's not as fiery but I find him just as intense.