Paul Bley

Hyman Paul Bley, CM (November 10, 1932 – January 3, 2016) was a Canadian pianist known for his contributions to the free jazz movement of the 1960s as well as his innovations and influence on trio playing. Bley was a long-time resident of the United States. His music characteristically featured strong senses both of melodic voicing and space.

Early life

Bley was born in Montreal, Quebec, on November 10, 1932. His adoptive parents were Betty Marcovitch, an immigrant from Romania, and Joe Bley, owner of an embroidery factory.

Later life and career

In the 1950s Bley founded the Jazz Workshop in Montreal, performing on piano and recording with bebop alto saxophonist and composer Charlie Parker. He also performed with tenor saxophonists Lester Young and Ben Webster at that time. In 1953 he conducted for bassist Charles Mingus on the Charles Mingus and His Orchestra album. That year Mingus produced the Introducing Paul Bley album with Mingus and drummer Art Blakey. In 1960 Bley recorded on piano with the Charles Mingus Group.

Paul Bley (album)

Paul Bley is the second album by Canadian jazz pianist Paul Bley featuring tracks recorded in 1954 and released on the EmArcy label.

Reception

Allmusic awarded the album 4 stars stating "Pick a personality trait of the Paul Bley style and chances are it won't be found anywhere here, as lovely a piano trio jazz record as this is... For the most part the tone of the pianist remains almost frigid in its consistency; volume level rarely varies and the direction of the improvisations is solidly mainstream... The obvious problem with someone like Bley or Jimi Hendrix is that once they developed their totally unique musical personality, their earlier work starts to sound a little boring".The Penguin Guide to Jazz said "At this stage of his career, he's a very orthodox bopper, aware of the blues but certainly not restricted by them, possibly exploring aspects of Tristano's evolution as well, and certainly listening to classical pianists for technique and harmonic ideas".

Track listing

Aër

The Aër (Greek: Ἀήρ, lit. the "air"; modern Greek: Αέρας; Slavonic: Воздýхъ, Vozdúkh) is the largest and outermost of the veils covering the Chalice and Diskos (paten) in the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the Byzantine Rite. It is rectangular in shape and corresponds to the veil used to cover the chalice and paten in the Latin Rite, but is larger. It is often made of the same material and color as the vestments of the officiating priest, and often has a fringe going all the way around its edge. Tassels may also be sewn at each of the corners.

It takes its name either from the lightness of the material of which it is made, or from the fact that during the Nicene Creed in the Divine Liturgy, the priest holds it high in the air and waves it slowly over the Chalice and Diskos. Its original use was to cover the Chalice and prevent anything from falling into it before the consecration. It symbolizes the swaddling clothes with which Christ was wrapped at his Nativity, and also the grave clothes in which he was wrapped at his burial (both themes are found in the text of the Liturgy of Preparation).

Ağrı

Ağrı, formerly known as Karaköse (Kurdish: Qerekose‎) from the early Turkish republican period until 1946, and before that as Karakilisa (also rendered as Karakilise) (Ottoman: قره‌کلیسا), is the capital of Ağrı Province at the eastern end of Turkey, near the border with Iran.

History

In the Ottoman Empire era the area was called Şorbulak. The current town centre was founded around 1860 by a group of Armenian merchants from Bitlis with the name Karakilise ("the black church") that became known to the local population as Karakise and this version was turned officially to Karaköse at the beginning of the Republican era. This name was changed to Ağrı by 1946.

In the medieval period, the district's administrative centre was located at Alashkert, once an important town. The "kara kilise" that gave the town its name was a medieval Armenian church. In 1895 Lynch stayed in Karakilise and wrote that it had between 1500-2000 inhabitants, was nearly two-thirds Armenian, and that a barracks for a locally-recruited Kurdish Hamidiyeh regiment had been recently located in the town.

Çağrı

Çağrı is a unisex Turkish given name. In Turkish, "Çağrı" means "The Call", "Appellation", and/or "Distinction". It also means "Falcon". Notable people with the name include:

Given name

Surname