Paul Bley
Ramblin’
BYG Records/Toho Records (Japan) 1973
YX-2038 (LP) Limited edition. w/obi, insert.
sleeve : EX-(SRW, some wear on side and one corner, one slightly wrinkle.)
media : EX+/EX+(some slightly noise.)
A 1969 release on French BYG’s celebrated Actuel series by Paul Bley, one of Canada’s finest jazz pianists, a key figure in the New York loft jazz scene, and a player active since the 1950s through work with the Ornette Coleman Quartet, Jazz Composer’s Orchestra, and, of course, his own outstanding groups. This trio session with Mark Levinson on bass and Barry Altschul on drums was recorded in 1966 at RCA Studios in Rome. Leading with the title track, a superb take on an early Ornette Coleman classic, the album also features compositions by Annette Peacock and Carla Bley—pieces that would remain central to Bley’s repertoire for years to come. A truly excellent record, marked by Bley’s singular sense of space and clarity at the piano. This is the Japanese pressing issued in 1973 as part of Toho Records’ limited BYG Jazz Collection 1500 series, complete with the insert featuring liner notes by Masahiko Yuh.
A1: Both
A3: Ida Lupino
B2: Touching