Paul Motian

Bill Evans: The Legendary Trio At Birdland 1960 Revisited

by Glenn Astarita
March 7, 2024

Bill Evans' The Legendary Trio at Birdland 1960 is a seminal recording that captures a fleeting moment of jazz brilliance, immortalizing the profound synergy of Evans with bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian. Recorded live at the iconic Birdland Jazz Club in New York City, this album is a vivid snapshot of a group at the peak of its creative powers, navigating the complexities of jazz standards and original compositions with unparalleled grace and fluidity. The trio's ...

Bill Evans: The Legendary Trio At Birdland 1960 Revisited

by John Eyles
March 3, 2024

Keen-eyed Bill Evans aficionados will know that this album is the pianist's third in the Revisited series by ezz-thetics, following At The Village Vanguard 1961 Revisited and the double-CD Duos with Jim Hall & Trios '64 & '65 Revisited, both released in 2023. “The Legendary Trio" refers to the threesome of Evans, bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian, the same group that recorded at the Village Vanguard in 1961. The Legendary Trio was brought to a tragic end ten ...

Bill Evans: The Legendary Trio At Birdland 1960 Revisited

by Chris May
January 17, 2024

Thank you, Boris Rose. The obsessive New York jazz maverick set out to record every musician of note who performed in the city's clubs from the mid 1940s through the mid 1970s. He must have come close to succeeding. His vast accumulated horde of tapes--today presumed more or less safe, stacked floor to ceiling in a sizeable Bronx basement under the guardianship of his daughter Elaine--is a treasure beyond mere monetary value. Annotated but uncatalogued, there are many hundreds, perhaps ...

Bill Evans: Duos With Jim Hall & Trios '64 & '65 Revisited

by Chris May
November 12, 2023

Although the evidence is circumstantial, it is more than possible that Bill Evans' collaborations with Jim Hall came about through proximity to George Russell. Even Alan Douglas, the producer of the duo's first album, did not claim credit for the liaison; and Douglas, who the same year brought together Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus and Max Roach, was not shy about coming forward with similar (questionable) claims. Evans was the first to meet Russell when, in late 1955, ...

Bill Evans Trio: At The Village Vanguard 1961 Revisited

by Mark Corroto
August 19, 2023

Imagine yourself in Greenwich Village June 25, 1961. You are in attendance at a small pie shaped club called the Village Vanguard run by Max Gordon. This is before it was to be crowned as a jazz holy ground. Sonny Rollins had recorded his famous A Night At The “Village Vanguard" (Blue Note, 1957). John Coltrane would record there in November of 1961 and again in 1966. The spot is a shrine with sessions from legends such as Albert Ayler, ...

Bill Evans Trio: At The Village Vanguard 1961 Revisited

by Chris May
August 11, 2023

Liner notes generally avoid referencing current affairs, for the good reason that what is front page news when the notes are being written may be gone and forgotten by the time the album is released. But there are exceptional circumstances, and here is one of them. On his father's side, Bill Evans was of Welsh heritage, and on his mother's side, Russian, or rather Ukrainian, the two countries during his lifetime often being conflated as a result ...

Bill Evans: Waltz For Debby

by Mark Corroto
July 18, 2023

In a very unscientific survey, 9 out of 10 jazz connoisseurs listed Waltz For Debby by the Bill Evans Trio as one of their desert island picks. For more than sixty years it has been a best seller and this reissue, like its companion release Sunday At The Village Vanguard (Craft Recordings, 2023), is part of a newly relaunched Original Jazz Classic series. From the original tapes, both are all-analog masters by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio, pressed on 180-gram ...

Guitarist Carl Michel Celebrates the music of Paul Motian with "Music in Motian" on Play On Records

Source: All About Jazz
June 12, 2018

The music of drummer/composer Paul Motian is revered in certain circles of jazz, while resting in obscurity among others. The performing credits of Motian run deep and are extensive, but as a author of highly original music, he lies in the under-documented category. This will not last much longer as, in the years since his passing, his followers are carrying the torch, one such notable being guitarist Carl Michel. Michel (pronounced Michael) has recognized the contributions of Paul Motian, and ...
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Chick Corea/ Eddie Gomez/ Paul Motian - Further Explorations (2012)

Source: Something Else!
February 1, 2012

It's yet another tribute to the singular artistry of Bill Evans, but this one has a special plot line: the drummer played for Evans in one era and the bassist played for him in another era. While the pianist, naturally, was never a part of an Evans ensemble, he has over several decades built a wide-ranging oeuvre that contained many brilliant moments, all while arguably attaining the stature of Evans. Further Explorations is a sprawling, career-spanning retrospective of music composed ...
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Enter the "Paul Motian - The Windmills of Your Mind" CD Giveaway at All About Jazz!

Source: All About Jazz
December 5, 2011

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Paul Motian (1931-2011): An Appreciation

Source: Something Else!
November 23, 2011

Drummer Paul Motian, who first came to prominence in the late 1950s with pianist Bill Evans' pioneering trio, has died. A representative from ECM Records confirms he passed at 4:52 a.m. in New York City. A cause of death has not been disclosed. He was 80. After this groundbreaking association with Evans, Motian later collaborated with pianists Paul Bley (1963-64) and Keith Jarrett (1967㭈). An eclectic artist, he also worked with Arlo Guthrie in 1968-69, a stint that included a ...
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Paul Motian Memorial Broadcast on WKCR

Source: AAJ Staff
November 23, 2011

Drummer, bandleader, and composer Paul Motian passed away Tuesday November 22nd at the age of 80. Motian's career took off starting with his work in the influential Bill Evan's trio alongside bassist Scott LaFaro in the late 1950s. Thereafter, he went on to record and perform with artists ranging from Charlie Haden and Lee Konitz to Marilyn Crispell and Bill Frisell, developing a distinctive style along the way, a key contribution in an era in which the drums continued to ...
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RIP Paul Motian: 1931-2011

Source: John Kelman
November 22, 2011

Drummer Paul Motian passed away, in a New York City hospital, early this morning. The cause was complications of myelodysplastic syndrome, according to Motian's niece, Cindy McGuirl. This is the same rare blood and bone-marrow disorder that took the life of saxophonist Michael Brecker nearly five years ago, in early 2007. Emerging first as a member of pianist Bill Evans' groundbreaking trio in the mid-1950s, Motian went on to become an innovator in his own right, creating a style of ...
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Gordon Grdina, Gary Peacock and Paul Motian - Think Like the Waves (2006)

Source: Something Else!
October 10, 2011

By Mark Saleski In his essay, “Listening To Music," composer John Cage offers a possible definition of music and a framework for its evaluation: “I have talked with several musicians who have seriously claimed that music is not made of sound, but rather of the relationships of the sounds, and that in order to appreciate it we must understand its structure." The implication is that only the trained musician (or person well-versed in music theory) can properly decide what is ...
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Augusto Pirodda, with Paul Motian and Gary Peacock - No Comment (2011)

Source: Something Else!
August 5, 2011

Pianist Augusto Pirodda, on his fifth long player, plays with the melodic, insinuating sensitivity that belies his brief recording career. In fact, No Comment, put to tape in 2009 but just out on the German label Jazzwerkstatt, is often off-handedly bold in that way. The opener, “It Begins Like This," is actually the initial soundcheck performed with drummer Paul Motian and bassist Gary Peacock. They seem to have quickly settled, unbidden, into symbiotic roles. Pirodda's “So?" finds the pianist slowly ...
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Forgotten Series: Paul Motian - I Have the Room Above Her (2005)

Source: Something Else!
May 11, 2011

By Mark Saleski You wouldn't suppose that most musicians would look favorably upon being compared to an old pile of rocks. How about an old, organized pile of rocks? This isn't some kind of clever reviewer trick. Honestly, it's just a coincidence. While giving Paul Motian's I Have The Room Above Her the first listen, I happened to have a nice view out the bedroom window. Through the maples and oaks beside our antique house, an old rock wall can ...
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Jacob Sacks, Eivind Opsvik, Paul Motian, Mat Maneri Live at Cornelia Street Cafe, NYC

Source: Michael Ricci
May 27, 2010

Friday June 11th and Saturday June 12th Cornelia Street Cafe 29 Cornelia Street 9:00PM & 10:30PM TWO MILES A DAY Jacob Sacks, piano; Eivind Opsvik, bass; Mat Manieri, viola, violin; Paul Motian, drums

Back in 2005 Jacob Sacks and Eivind Opsvik wrote five songs each and invited Paul Motian and Mat Maneri with them to record 'Two Miles A Day'. ...
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