With Gary Peacock

Paul Bley With Gary Peacock was the third album issued by ECM and, from today´s perspective, it stands as one of the most significant of the very early releases. The record stemmed from two sources. The trio selections with Peacock and drummer Paul Motian were recorded in New York in 1963, a few months after the Canadian pianist´s Free Fall session with Jimmy Giuffre, and represent the logical next step in the development of an intellectually alert and lyrical free jazz. The three tracks with Billy Elgart on drums derive from the 1968 session that gave us the exceptional Mr. Joy and these are more spacious in character, distinguished by the sensitivity to sound and silence. Both sessions are marvellous. Bley´s brief sleevenote ought to be required reading for a new generation of players: „Chord changes have never interfered with my way of hearing melody. Whether playing standards with steady time and a given set of chord sequences or free rhythm and free harmony pieces where the only guide to the improviser is the vivid character of the given written composition, one´s own personality should be apparent to the listener.“