1. Paul Bley, CM was a Canadian jazz pianist known for his contributions to the free jazz movement of the 1960s as well as his innovations and influence on trio playing and his early live performance on the Moog and ARP synthesizers.
20 Facts About Paul Bley
1. 2.
Paul Bley's music has been described by Ben Ratliff of the New York Times as "deeply original and aesthetically aggressive".
3.
Paul Bley was born in Montreal, Quebec, on November 10,1932.
4.
However, in 1993 a relative from the New York branch of the Paul Bley family walked into the Sweet Basil Jazz Club in New York City and informed Paul Bley that his father was actually his biological parent.
5.
At age five Paul Bley began studying the violin, but at age seven, after his mother divorced his father, he decided to switch to the piano.
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In 1949, when Paul Bley was starting his senior year of high school, Oscar Peterson asked Paul Bley to fulfill his contract at the Alberta Lounge in Montreal.
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The next year Paul Bley left Montreal for New York City and Juilliard.
8.
Paul Bley lived in the United States for his entire adult life, but never renounced his Canadian citizenship.
9.
In 1951, on summer break from Juilliard, Paul Bley returned to Montreal where he helped organize the Montreal Jazz Workshop.
10.
In 1953 Paul Bley invited the bebop alto saxophonist and composer Charlie Parker to the Jazz Workshop, where he played and recorded with him, making the record "Charlie Parker Montreal 1953".
11.
When Paul Bley returned to New York City he hired Jackie McLean, Al Levitt and Doug Watkins to play an extended gig at the Copa City on Long Island.
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Paul Bley performed with tenor saxophonist Ben Webster at that time.
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In 1954, Paul Bley received a call from Chet Baker inviting him to play opposite Baker's quintet at Jazz City in Hollywood, California for the month of March.
14.
Paul Bley, who had met Karen Borg while she was working as a cigarette girl at Birdland in NYC, married her after she came out to meet him in Los Angeles, where she became Carla Paul Bley.
15.
In 1957, Paul Bley stayed in Los Angeles where he had the house band at the Hillcrest Club.
16.
In 1964, Paul Bley was instrumental in the formation of the Jazz Composers Guild, a co-operative organization which brought together many free jazz musicians in New York: Bill Dixon, Roswell Rudd, Cecil Taylor, Archie Shepp, Carla Paul Bley, Michael Mantler, Sun Ra, and others.
17.
Paul Bley was featured in Ron Mann's 1981 documentary film Imagine the Sound, in which he performs and discusses the evolution of free jazz and his music.
18.
Paul Bley continued to tour in Europe, Japan, South America and the US recording prolifically as a soloist and with a wide range of ensembles.
19.
Notably, Paul Bley revisited the synthesizer in a record for Postcards titled Synthesis.
20.
Paul Bley died of natural causes on January 3,2016, at home in Stuart, Florida, aged 83.