PAUL BLEY / GARY PEACOCK / PAUL MOTIAN - When Will The Blues Leave
ECM 774 0423
Paul Bley: piano; Gary Peacock: double-bass; Paul Motian: drums
Recorded March 1999
When Will The Blues Leave is a recently unearthed archival recording from the trio of Paul Bley, Gary Peacock, and the late drummer Paul Motian recorded live in Switzerland at Lugano’s Aula Magna in 1999. The freewheeling trio mixes up well known Bley originals, plus a few standards in an invigorating program that longtime fans, and even those new to the group will enjoy.
The pianist, bassist and drummer were well acquainted with each other since 1963, when they recorded Paul Bley and Gary Peacock (ECM, 1970) a John Gilmore lead date the following year for Bley’s own IAI label and Peacock’s Not Two, Not One (ECM, 1998). Bley, one of the most important pianists to emerge in the early 60’s, helped to redefine jazz piano lexicon, greatly influencing those that came after him. He has the perfect forum with comrades Peacock and Motian to explore the music at will. All three are questing musicians, never content to merely just run down traditional forms and chord changes– the music becomes a blank slate for improvisatory wonder in much the same way Bruce Lee described water taking form in whatever vessel it is contained in. The entirety of the history of jazz is implied in this performance, for example, Bley’s habanera vamp in the left hand flavors, “Told You So” amidst trademark torrential rumbles, but the pianist always includes echoes of the blues as signposts.
While this performance was recorded in the midst of the bassist’s involvement with the Keith Jarrett Standards Trio, it is interesting to look at this performance from the lens of Peacock’s current activities with his own trio with Marc Copland and Joey Baron, where much like this group, they explore open universes. He has been always an uncompromising force as a bassist, and the way he freely instigates inner dialogues and weaves in and out of song forms here, as on “Mazatlan”, “Dialogue Amour” or his oft recorded “Moor” has only become more prescient over time. Paul Motian’s ability to always listen and react in the moment made him one of the most distinctive, innovative drummers in jazz, and his ability to color the music, and not restrict himself to straight time is on full display here. This ability is particularly potent on the opening “Mazatlan” where he delightfully fills in the cracks between Peacock and Bley’s playful inner dialogues. When Motian lets loose with conventional time on “Moor” (recently heard on 2015’s ECM entry, Now This)or the classic Ornette Coleman title track, he generates gale force momentum and catapults Bley and Peacock to greater heights. His usage of classic jazz drumming phraseology in his unique idiosyncratic manner on the title track is pure bliss. The set closer on “I Loves You Porgy” with Bley at it alone, is a beautiful meditation on it’s timeless melody with a rich reflection of the blues.
Reviewed by C J Shearn
ECM 774 0423
Paul Bley: piano; Gary Peacock: double-bass; Paul Motian: drums
Recorded March 1999
When Will The Blues Leave is a recently unearthed archival recording from the trio of Paul Bley, Gary Peacock, and the late drummer Paul Motian recorded live in Switzerland at Lugano’s Aula Magna in 1999. The freewheeling trio mixes up well known Bley originals, plus a few standards in an invigorating program that longtime fans, and even those new to the group will enjoy.
The pianist, bassist and drummer were well acquainted with each other since 1963, when they recorded Paul Bley and Gary Peacock (ECM, 1970) a John Gilmore lead date the following year for Bley’s own IAI label and Peacock’s Not Two, Not One (ECM, 1998). Bley, one of the most important pianists to emerge in the early 60’s, helped to redefine jazz piano lexicon, greatly influencing those that came after him. He has the perfect forum with comrades Peacock and Motian to explore the music at will. All three are questing musicians, never content to merely just run down traditional forms and chord changes– the music becomes a blank slate for improvisatory wonder in much the same way Bruce Lee described water taking form in whatever vessel it is contained in. The entirety of the history of jazz is implied in this performance, for example, Bley’s habanera vamp in the left hand flavors, “Told You So” amidst trademark torrential rumbles, but the pianist always includes echoes of the blues as signposts.
While this performance was recorded in the midst of the bassist’s involvement with the Keith Jarrett Standards Trio, it is interesting to look at this performance from the lens of Peacock’s current activities with his own trio with Marc Copland and Joey Baron, where much like this group, they explore open universes. He has been always an uncompromising force as a bassist, and the way he freely instigates inner dialogues and weaves in and out of song forms here, as on “Mazatlan”, “Dialogue Amour” or his oft recorded “Moor” has only become more prescient over time. Paul Motian’s ability to always listen and react in the moment made him one of the most distinctive, innovative drummers in jazz, and his ability to color the music, and not restrict himself to straight time is on full display here. This ability is particularly potent on the opening “Mazatlan” where he delightfully fills in the cracks between Peacock and Bley’s playful inner dialogues. When Motian lets loose with conventional time on “Moor” (recently heard on 2015’s ECM entry, Now This)or the classic Ornette Coleman title track, he generates gale force momentum and catapults Bley and Peacock to greater heights. His usage of classic jazz drumming phraseology in his unique idiosyncratic manner on the title track is pure bliss. The set closer on “I Loves You Porgy” with Bley at it alone, is a beautiful meditation on it’s timeless melody with a rich reflection of the blues.
Reviewed by C J Shearn
