Paul Bley
Fragments
ECM Records/Polydor (Japan) 1986
25MJ 3548 (LP) w/insert.
sleeve : EX-(some slightly dirts.)
media : EX/EX(some slightly noise.)
Released by ECM in 1986, this leader album by Paul Bley—one of Canada’s foremost jazz pianists, active since the 1950s and known for his work with the Ornette Coleman Quartet, the Jazz Composer’s Orchestra, and his own groups—features a quartet of trusted musicians: John Surman, Bill Frisell, and Paul Motian. Although it includes repertoire Bley had performed many times before, the arrangements and instrumentation are highly distinctive, giving the pieces an entirely different character. The subtle melodies that seem to float in the sound field create an atmosphere quintessential to ECM of this era, enhanced by its uniquely beautiful reverb space. Every track is recommended. The Japanese pressing produced by Polydor in the mid-to-late 1980s sounds markedly different from earlier issues. A hard-to-find copy.
A1: Memories
A2: Monica Jane