Jazz | Pint | Bley

Tonight I’m listening to the most recent addition to my Paul Bley stash. Another recent reissue from HatHut on their Ezzthetics imprint – ‘Paul Bley Trios Play Annette Peacock Revisited’ comprised of two sessions from 1966 and 1968 featuring Mark Levinson (b) and Barry Altschul (d) and Gary Peacock (b) and Billy Elgart (d) respectively. It combines tracks from ‘Ramblin’, ‘Blood’, and ‘Mr Joy’ – all albums I don’t have so I thought, “why not?” (maybe eventually I’ll pick them up individually but this incomplete compilation will do for now). The compositions and approach from the trio – spacious, introspective, stark - is a departure from the norm at the time. Occasionally things get ramped up (“Blood”, "Kid Dynamite") but there’s a focused, quiet intensity in this music that appeals to me. Bley is never far off the rotation, so I'll no doubt "Revisited" will be revisited. Bley really set the standard for that type of approach at the piano and I’ve wondered how I could bring some of this to my saxophone playing – it’s in there somewhere, but more of than not, notes have a habit of getting in the way.

I first heard Bley on recordings by the Jimmy Giuffre trio (one of my favourite groups) and shortly after on 'Sonny Meets Hawk' courtesy of Norman Meehan, whose book ‘Time Will Tell’ I’ve been dipping in and out of over the last week or so too. It’s an entertaining read and Bley is not afraid of sharing his thoughts. I’d like to re-read Bley’s autobiography ‘Stopping Time’ (which I first read not long after hearing my introduction to his recordings) but it looks to be out of print and I haven’t managed to find a nicely priced copy.

I managed to hear Bley live once, squeezing in last minute at the Blue Note to hear him in duo with Charlie Haden (the only him I heard him too). Wasn’t the greatest seat in the house.. crammed into the bar, I could barely see either of them and it was kind of noisy (I questioned why these people even bothered going). But, I did get to hear them even if in somewhat non-ideal settings.

Accompanied on this cool spring evening by Three Boys Oyster Stout (I thought the stoneware was appropriate for the season).

Lacy - Potts - Aebi: Tips

Steve Lacy/Steve Potts: Tips (Corbett vs Dempsey)

This was my sole Record Store Day purchase. I picked it up at the Corbett vs Dempsey gallery prior to Bob Gluck speaking about his new book on the Miles Davis "Lost Quintet." Recorded in 1979 and originally released by HatHut in 1981, Tips was recently reissued by Corbett vs Dempsey.

The trio of Steve Lacy (ss) Steve Potts (as) and Irene Aebi (vocal) play 14 pieces, labeled A through N, inspired by Georges Braque's advice to artists. Lacy set these "tips" to brief melodies (two or three bars in length) creating a song cycle that I have found very engaging (on the 1st two and a half listens!).

Although the pieces tend have similar form - Aebi stating the melody with horns accompanying, improvisation by the horns (collective or solo), move to the next melody - it doesn't seem to weigh down the album. In fact, this structure combined with the brevity of the works (each clocking in around the three minute mark) are strengths of the album. The themes are short, the improvisations brief and album as a whole is very concise. Everybody stays on point, yet there is still plenty offered during the improvised passages as intensity and textures shift throughout the album to keep things moving.

A: We Will Never Have Any Peace - The Present Is Perpetual  
B: Do Not Imitate What You Wish To Create  
C: I Want To Be In Tune With Nature Rather Than Copy It  
D: I Don't Do As I'd Like, I Do As I Can  
E: Art Is Made To Trouble, Science Reassures  
F: The Only Thing Valuable In Art, Is What Cannot Be Explained  
G: One Must Achieve A Certain Temperature That Makes Things Malleable  
H: Limited Means Lead To New Forms, Invite Creation, Make Style  
I: Impregnation, Obsession, Hallucination  
J: It's The Change Happening That Reveals To Us, Day To Day Existence  
K: Echo Answers Echo, All Is Repercussion  
L: For Every Gain There Is A Corresponding Loss - That Is The Law Of Compensation  
M: Progress In Art Is Not About Extending It's Limits, But In Better Understanding Them  
N: With Age, Art And Life Become One 

Outside his work with Lacy, I only can recalling hearing one recording of Potts - an area to explore in the future perhaps. And I find similarity between Potts and Charlie Rouse - their long service to a bandleader overshadowed or blinded people to their work in other settings.

Corbett vs Dempsey have reissued a few 70s HatHut albums lately (including some from Joe McPhee and Jimmy Lyons) and it sounds like they have more on the way.