Paul Levinson

Paul Bley - Ballads (1967) {ECM Japanese Reissue UCCE-3003 rel 2007}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 198 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 76 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 12 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1967, 2007 ECM Records / Universal Japan | UCCE-3003 / ECM 1010
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Piano

Ballads, which really seems to make ballads out of ballads, has been considered both worthy of hanging on the museum wall alongside the other masterpieces and being accorded special merit as the jazz record most used for background music. Since no less a genius than the great French composer Erik Satie invented the concept of background music, this might not be such a contradiction or insult. Only the short "Circles" invites a real comparison with the piano music of Satie; elsewhere you're in extremely extended territory, Paul Bley's desire to play the slowest music in history meshing with a new style of rhythm section accompaniment that sounds like everything from tuning the drums to adjusting the drapes.

Finding any previously unreleased Paul Bley material is a wonderful gift. I'm just hoping for more. Much of this live for radio recording was recoded in a studio later (or perhaps just prior) to the European tour but it is great to hear the variations. Paul Bley played many of the same pieces over and over but never the same way twice.