Paul Motian

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Joe Lovano , Paul Motian and Bill Frisell performing live in Rome

Stephen Paul Motian [ moʊ.ʃən ] (* 25. March 1931 in Philadelphia ; † 22. November 2011 in New York City ) was an American drummer of modern jazz . The New York Times according to which he was one of the most influential jazz musicians of the past fifty years.

Live and act

Paul Motian was of Armenian descent and grew up in Providence , Rhode Island . He played in various school bands during his high school days until 1949. During the Korean War he was a soldier in the US Navy . In 1955 he went to New York City . There he met Bill Evans , on whose debut album New Jazz Conceptions he participated and with whom he initially played (1956/57) in Tony Scott's band. He worked with musicians such as Oscar Pettiford (1957), Lennie Tristano (1958/59), in the ensemble of Zoot Sims and Al Cohn (1959), but also with George Russell and Sonny Rollins , before the Bill Evans Trio with Motian in 1959 on drums and Scott LaFaro on bass, which marked a revolution in piano trio playing as the rhythm section emancipated itself from the mere accompaniment of the solo instrument to a freer, equal, tone-color-oriented interplay, which was the legendary recordings of June 25, 1961 exemplarily document in the New York Village Vanguard ( Sunday at the Village Vanguard and Waltz for Debby on Riverside ). Less than two weeks later, LaFaro had a fatal accident. Chuck Israels took his place, then briefly Gary Peacock in 1963 before Motian left the band.

In the 1960s, Motian also performed under bandleaders such as Coleman Hawkins , Mose Allison , Perry Robinson , Charles Lloyd and Pharoah Sanders (and, curiously, at the Woodstock Festival with singer Arlo Guthrie ). He played with pianist Paul Bley for the first time in 1963 in a trio with Gary Peacock and groped his way into free jazz with them . At the end of the 60s he then found himself together with Keith Jarrett and Charlie Haden, initially as a trio, expanded to include Dewey Redman as (the later so-called American) Keith Jarrett Quartet, which recorded more than ten albums for various labels from 1967 to 1976. He also took part in Carla Bly's jazz opera Escalator over the Hill and Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra .

Since the early 1970s, Motian has increasingly appeared as a band leader and composer. His first albums, Conception Vessel (1972), Tribute (1974) and Dance (1977), were released on the Munich-based ECM label , featuring Keith Jarrett, Charlie Haden, Leroy Jenkins , Sam Brown , David Izenzon and Carlos Ward .

1980 began the extremely productive collaboration with Bill Frisell and Joe Lovano , who were both about 20 years younger than him; first in a quintet with another saxophonist ( Billy Drewes or Jim Pepper ) and Ed Schuller on bass, then mainly as a bassless trio, for example on It Should've Happened a Long Time Ago (1984), Monk in Motian (1988), Time and Time Again (2007) or again expanded to include his most consistent partner Charlie Haden on Paul Motian on Broadway Vol. I – III or in 1990 on a Bill Evans tribute album with Marc Johnson on bass. He also played with pianists time and again: first and foremost with Paul Bley, but also with Geri Allen , Eric Watson , Marilyn Crispell , Bobo Stenson , Enrico Pieranunzi , Stéphan Oliva and in 2010 with Jason Moran and Chris Potter on the saxophone, in another bassless trio . Potter has played in Trio 2000 since 1997 , with which Motian continued his album series with Standards On Broadway . A regular guest of this trio was Masabumi Kikuchi , who was also the pianist of the Tethered Moon trio founded in 1991 (with Gary Peacock on bass), which attracted attention with its idiosyncratic interpretations of the music by Kurt Weill , Édith Piaf and Puccini . In addition, the Electric Bebop Band Motians, which was formed for the first time in 1992, has to be mentioned, which reinterpreted primarily Parker , Monk , Powell and Davis compositions with two electric guitarists, electric bass player and saxophone (s) . He died in 2011 in Manhattan Hospital from complications from a malignant disease of the bone marrow ( multiple myeloma ).

Discography (selection)

As a leader

  • 1972: Conception Vessel ( ECM ) with Keith Jarrett , Sam Brown , Leroy Jenkins , Becky Friend, Charlie Haden
  • 1975: Tribute (ECM) with Carlos Ward , Sam Brown, Paul Metzke , Charlie Haden
  • 1977: Dance (ECM) with Charles Brackeen , David Izenzon
  • 1979: Le Voyage (ECM) with Charles Brackeen, Jean-François Jenny-Clark
  • 1982: Psalm (ECM) with Joe Lovano , Billy Drewes , Bill Frisell , Ed Schuller
  • 1984: The Story of Maryam ( Soul Note ) with Joe Lovano, Jim Pepper , Bill Frisell, Ed Schuller
  • 1984: It Should've Happened a Long Time Ago (ECM) with Joe Lovano, Bill Frisell
  • 1985: Jack of Clubs (Soul Note) with Joe Lovano, Jim Pepper, Bill Frisell, Ed Schuller
  • 1987: Misterioso (Soul Note) with Joe Lovano, Jim Pepper, Bill Frisell, Ed Schuller
  • 1988: Monk in Motian ( JMT ) with Joe Lovano, Bill Frisell + Geri Allen , Dewey Redman
  • 1988: On Broadway Vol. I (JMT) with Joe Lovano, Bill Frisell, Charlie Haden
  • 1989: On Broadway Vol. II (JMT) with Joe Lovano, Bill Frisell, Charlie Haden
  • 1989: One Time Out (Soul Note) with Joe Lovano, Bill Frisell
  • 1990: Bill Evans (JMT) with Joe Lovano, Bill Frisell, Marc Johnson
  • 1992: On Broadway Vol. III (JMT) with Joe Lovano, Lee Konitz , Bill Frisell, Charlie Haden
  • 1992: Paul Motian in Tokyo (JMT) with Joe Lovano, Bill Frisell
  • 1993: Trioism (JMT) with Joe Lovano, Bill Frisell + Dewey Redman
  • 1997: Sound of Love ( Winter & Winter ) with Joe Lovano, Bill Frisell
  • 2005: I Have the Room Above Her (ECM) with Joe Lovano, Bill Frisell
  • 2006: Garden of Eden (ECM) with Chris Cheek, Tony Malaby, Ben Monder, Steve Cardenas, Jakob Bro , Jerome Harris
  • 2007: Time and Time Again (ECM) with Joe Lovano, Bill Frisell
  • 2010: Lost in a Dream (ECM) with Jason Moran , Chris Potter
  • 2011: The Windmills of Your Mind (Winter & Winter) with Bill Frisell, Thomas Morgan , Petra Haden (vocals)

With the Electric Bebop Band

  • 1993: Paul Motian and the Electric Bebop Band (JMT) with Joshua Redman , Kurt Rosenwinkel , Brad Schoeppach, Stomu Takeishi
  • 1994: Reincarnation of a Lovebird (JMT) with Chris Cheek , Chris Potter , Kurt Rosenwinkel, Wolfgang Muthspiel , Steve Swallow, Don Alias
  • 1997: Flight of the Blue Jay (Winter & Winter) with Chris Cheek, Chris Potter, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Brad Schoeppach, Steve Swallow
  • 1999: Plays Monk and Powell (Winter & Winter) with Chris Cheek, Chris Potter, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Steve Cardenas , Steve Swallow
  • 2001: Europe (Winter & Winter) with Chris Cheek, Pietro Tonolo , Ben Monder , Steve Cardenas, Anders Christensen
  • 2002: Holiday for Strings (Winter & Winter) with Chris Cheek, Pietro Tonolo, Ben Monder, Steve Cardenas, Anders Christensen

With Trio 2000 + One / + Two

  • 1998: Trio 2000 + One (Winter & Winter) with Chris Potter, Larry Grenadier + Masabumi Kikuchi , Steve Swallow
  • 2006: On Broadway Vol. IV or The Paradox of Continuity (Winter & Winter) with Chris Potter, Larry Grenadier + Masabumi Kikuchi, Rebecca Martin
  • 2006: Live at the Village Vanguard Vol. I (Winter & Winter) with Chris Potter, Larry Grenadier + Masabumi Kikuchi, Greg Osby
  • 2008: Live at the Village Vanguard Vol. II (Winter & Winter) with Chris Potter, Larry Grenadier + Masabumi Kikuchi, Greg Osby , Mat Maneri
  • 2009: On Broadway Vol. V (Winter & Winter) with Loren Stillman , Thomas Morgan + Masabumi Kikuchi, Michaël Attias
  • 2010: Live at the Village Vanguard Vol. III (Winter & Winter) with Chris Potter, Larry Grenadier + Masabumi Kikuchi, Mat Maneri

In collaboration:

with Geri Allen, Charlie Haden

  • 1988: Etudes (Soul Note)
  • 1989: In the Year of the Dragon (JMT)
  • 1989: Segments (DIW)
  • 1991: Live at the Village Vanguard (DIW)

with Keith Jarrett, Charlie Haden

with Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock

  • 1994: At the Dear Head Inn (ECM)

with Masabumi Kikuchi, Gary Peacock (as Tethered Moon)

  • 1995: Play Kurt Weill (JMT)
  • 1997: First Meeting (Winter & Winter)
  • 1999: Chansons d'Édith Piaf (Winter & Winter)
  • 2004: Experiencing Tosca (Winter & Winter)

with Marilyn Crispell , Gary Peacock

  • 1997: Nothing Ever Was, Anyway. Music of Annette Peacock (ECM)
  • 2001: Amaryllis (ECM)

with Lee Konitz, Steve Swallow

  • 1999: Three Guys (Enja)

with Paul Bley, Gary Peacock

  • 1999: Not Two, Not One (ECM)

with Stéphan Oliva , Bruno Chevillon

  • 2000: Fantasm (BMG)
  • 2001: Intérieur Nuit (Night Bird Music)

with Bill Frisell, Ron Carter

  • 2006: Bill Frisell, Ron Carter, Paul Motian ( Nonesuch )

Lexigraphic cues

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Obituary in ( Memento of the original from November 25, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. JazzTimes @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / jazztimes.com
  2. Ben Ratliff , Obituary in The New York Times , November 22, 2011
  3. ^ Paul Motian The Daily Telegraph . November 24, 2011, accessed August 30, 2019
  4. a b c biography on Allmusic (accessed September 29, 2010)
  5. Legendary jazz musician: Drummer Paul Motian died in Der Spiegel on November 23, 2011