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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZBLEY, Paul(b Hyman Paul Bley, 10 November 1932, Montreal; d 3 January 2016) Piano, composer. He led a quartet in a Montreal hotel in 1945. To NYC, study at Juilliard, back to Canada '52, made a short jazz film, worked in TV, returned to NYC c.1954. Debut LP on Debut label Introducing Paul Bley '53 was a trio with Charles Mingus and Art Blakey. He played clubs and colleges '55-9; with Chet Baker, in a trio with Billy Higgins and Charlie Haden and a group with Don Cherry and Ornette Coleman '58 before the public had heard of them. He led his own quartet in NYC '59, with Mingus '60, and was a founder member of the Jazz Composers Guild. (He was married to composer/bandleader Carla Bley 1957-64.) He toured Europe '60, '65; Japan with Sonny Rollins '63. He had a particular empathy with bassists: Haden, Mingus, Scott La Faro, Gary Peacock. He teamed with singer Annette Peacock in the 1970s and they experimented with synthesizers. His trio albums with Barry Altschul on various labels included Touching and Closer '65; Ramblin', Blood, Paul Bley In Haarlem '66; Ballads and Virtuosi '67; Canada '68, Scorpio '72 (with Dave Holland); Peacock played bass on Virtuosi and Mr Joy '68; Bley played synths on Revenge: The Bigger The Love, The Bigger The Hate '69 (with Annette on Polydor), also The Paul Bley Synthesizer Show '70 on Milestone; solo LPs Alone Again '74 and Axis '77 on Improvising Artists. Albums on ECM included Paul Bley With Gary Peacock '68 (with Paul Motian), trio Ballads; solo Open To Love '72, Fragments '86 with Motian, John Surman and Bill Frisell. There were more Bley albums on Savoy and other labels: trio My Standard '73 on Steeplechase was on CD '87 with seven more tracks. Trio sets new and reissued, now on Red, Owl, IAI, ECM labels include the usual suspects: Motian, Peacock, Haden, Altschul, Bill Connors, Jimmy Giuffre; duet Notes '87 on Soul Note with Motian, Pyramid on Red with Connors and Lee Konitz, Memoirs '90 with Haden and Motian on Soul Note, Annette '92 on hat Hut with Peacock and Franz Koglmann; solo Caravan Suite '92 on Steeplechase, Time Will Tell on ECM with Evan Parker and bassist Barre Phillips, duos Outside In '94 with guitarist Sonny Greenwich and Touché with Kenny Wheeler on the Canadian Justin Time label, two-piano date with Satoko Fujii Something About Water '95 on Libra. 12(+6) in a Row reissued on a hatology CD in 2008 was recorded in 1990, half solos and half duos and trios with Hans Koch on reeds and Franz Koglmann on flugelhorn. Bley carried on for decades with integrity and beauty, refusing to be categorized. His sixth release for Justin Time was the solo About Time 2008. |