Über Paul Motian, geboren 1931 in Philadelphia, muss man wohl hier nicht viel sagen. In den Trios von Bill Evans, Paul Bley und Keith Jarrett, brachte sein Sinn für Rhythmus Jazz zu neuen Horizonten.
Diese CD wurde bereits 2004 in New York aufgenommen, und ist das erste ECM Album der Gruppe, die sich vorher die Paul Motian Electric Bebop Band nannte. Bebop und Verwandtes spielt nach wie vor eine wichtige Rolle, wird aber zunehmend durch eigene Stücke von Motian ergänzt. Gespielt wird das mit 3 Gitarren und 2 Saxophonen, sowie Bass und Schlagzeug.
Hier noch einige Ausschnitte aus dem ECM – Text: „The jazz repertoire material here includes two Charles Mingus tunes which open the performance: “Pithecanthropus Erectus”, Mingus’s cinematic account of the rise and fall of man (played very ‘noir’ by the Motian group), and “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat” the famous and heartfelt tribute to Lester Young, allegedly composed onstage at the Half Note Café in March 1959, when Mingus learned that the great tenorist had just died.
Jerome Kern’s “Bill” is from the 1927 musical “Show Boat”, (and in its original version contained lyrics by novelist P.G. Wodehouse). Closing this show are two more evergreens, Thelonious Monk’s classic “Evidence” which Motian played with its composer back in the 1950s, and Charlie Parker’s “Cheryl”, one of the pieces that first defined bebop for the world.
Motian’s group concept and enlightened leadership has drawn an impressive cast of players to him, and earlier editions of the Electric Bebop Band included saxophonists Joshua Redman and Chris Potter, guitarists Kurt Rosenwinkel and Wolfgang Muthspiel, and bassist Steve Swallow. The current line-up is particularly strong – every group member is also a bandleader in his own right, and the players are in and out of each other’s groups with swinging abandon.
The range of musical identities within the Motian ensemble is well-displayed in Manfred Eicher’s audio panorama: Steve Cardenas and Jakob Bro stalk the left and right perimeters of the stereo picture, while Ben Monder hews to the centre, as does Jerome Harris. Tony Malaby and Chris Cheek are, respectively, centre left and centre right. Motian’s detailed drums and cymbals are everywhere, embellishing solo statements and driving the ensemble forward in his stubborn, unpredictable way. . (www.ecmrecords.com).
