Paul Bley

A rare solo performance by one of jazz's great originals, Canadian pianist Paul Bley, recorded live at the Oslo Jazz Festival in 2008 by Jan Erik Kongshaug and Manfred Eicher. There is nothing else quite like a Paul Bley concert. As the New York Times noted, "Mr. Bley long ago found a way to express his long, elegant, voluminous thoughts in a manner that implies complete autonomy from its given setting but isn't quite free jazz. The music runs on a mixture of deep historical knowledge and its own inviolable principles". Here Bley, encouraged by an attentive and enthusiastic Norwegian audience shapes music in the moment, plays his own compositions, and brings the music to a fine conclusion in a performance of Sonny Rollins' Pent-Up House.

Modern Chant (subtitled Inspiration from Gregorian Chant) is an album by pianist Paul Bley, cellist David Eyges, and drummer Bruce Ditmas recorded in 1994 and released on the Japanese Venus label.

Can it be a coincidence that this album, subtitled "Inspiration from Gregorian Chant", was recorded right around the time that chant music was reaching its improbable peak on the album charts? In any case, this enjoyable, offbeat trio album featuring the unusual combination of Bley's piano, David Eyges' electric cello and Bruce Ditmas' drums seems to have very little to do with Gregorian chant per se.

Certainly, Paul Bley is no stranger to jazz fans, but he is more closely associated with the avant garde than with the mainstream, and this title is among his more abstract dates. Many fans of Bley maintain that he is best heard solo, and this 1999 recording comes pretty close – Bley's free improvisations are accompanied sparingly by the intelligent percussion of Togashi.

ntroducing Paul Bley is the debut album by Canadian jazz pianist Paul Bley recorded in 1953 and released on Charles Mingus' Debut label.

Paul Bley, CM (November 10, 1932 – January 3, 2016) was a Canadian jazz pianist known for his contributions to the free jazz movement of the 1960s as well as his innovations and influence on trio playing and his early live performance on the Moog and ARP synthesizers.

More straight-ahead than many Paul Bley outings, the 14 solo piano vignettes comprising this set reflect the versatility of this wide-ranging performer. There is an emphasis on the blues, and the pianist proves himself a formidable champion of that genre.

"Trios" is one of the outstanding jazz albums of the season and marks the first time that a new Carla Bley album has appeared on ECM itself. Carla, Andy Sheppard and Steve Swallow revisit classic Bley compositions in an exceptional album recorded in Lugano in April of 2012 by Manfred Eicher. Included here are spirited new versions of “Utviklingssang” and “Vashkar”, and the suites Les Trois Lagons, Wildlife and The Girl Who Cried Champagne. Carla’s robust tunes are vividly conveyed, all members solo compellingly, and the trio has never sounded better.

The singular catalog of the great pianist/composer Carla Bley has been celebrated and performed for decades. She has not only performed her unique compositions in her own star-studded bands but has had them canonized by such legendary artists as Gary Burton and Paul Bley.

Sunnyside Records presents the second boxed set of recordings from the archive of pianist Joe Castro, a diverse collection featuring incredible and never heard performances from legends like Paul Bley, Paul Motian, Leroy Vinnegar, Paul Chambers, Philly Joe Jones and many more.