Chaos

Chaos

Editorial Reviews
From Jazziz
Paul Bley has never gotten his due. He's been on the scene since childhood, working with everyone from Parker to Mingus, to Rollins, Ornette, and Ayler, and yet he remains an afterthought to many. What is the problem? It's as if he is so good at what he does, so inclusive, so open to music, that he has become an enigma. An out player who plays in? A free player who is a formalist? An unabashed romantic who, nonetheless, was one of the first to embrace new musical technology? A minimalist with a taste for the melodramatic moment? Truth is, whatever the era, whatever his surroundings or the mode of the moment, Bley has been remarkably consistent. Like Bill Evans - another pianist of his generation - Bley has always been a stickler for musical details and a devotee to the piano's sonics. He, too, can float around and above the beat. You can hear him on literally hundreds of records, sounding the depths of passion, unafraid of the lyrical, yet always willing to drop in a country-and-western lick or a blues gesture if it serves his purpose. Though his chosen musical settings vary wildly, he is one of the most identifiable pianists of the second half of the century. Here, for example, he joins two Euro-free spirits, Tony Oxley, of the the-beat-is-everywhere-and-nowhere school, and Furio Di Castri, a great continental bassist who walks his own walk. Yet as always, Bley is Bley, finding space to work between them. Three-quarters of this CD involves various solos or duo combinations, though each track flows into the next with suite-like unity. And independent as Oxley and Di Castri may be, when they join Bley, the piano-trio tradition is still clearly articulated. Listen to "Starting Over" (a radical revision of "I Can't Get Started?"); it's as close as they get to the conventional. Bley forges ahead with his signature long lines, defines the form, and then, near the end, drifts into the blues. And far from being deterred by Oxley's ruminations or Di Castri's independence, he draws them in.

Chaos,Paul Bley,Furio Di Castri,Tony Oxley,Soul Note Records,Avant-Garde,Avant-Garde Jazz,Free Jazz,Jazz,Jazz Music,Pop

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