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..just a note to say I really enjoy your column....not a New Yorker, so a tad jealous, but kudos for your work.btw: are you the Kaplan of the ATLANTIC?
The signal thing about Bley, either in solo or with others, is his thoroughly unsentimental romanticism. He steps on the sustain pedal quite a bit, but his most intricate filigree shines through in stark detail. He can wax on a ballad without ever overblowing the flourishes or letting the chords go trite. His left hand coaxes harmonies that, by normal rules, seem a half-step off-key but, upon closer listening, unveil hidden pathways into an otherwise sweet or jaunty melody. Yet the contrast isn’t jarring; it doesn’t even sound like a contrast; the two parts merge perfectly, if unconventionally, maybe because Bley never lets the rhythm flag; his songs—and, though they’re often pure improvisations, they sound like songs—have a muscularity; you can practically feel the notes whooshing through the clef bars.
Solo in Mondsee is just that: a suite of solo piano music, organized in 10 variations of three to eight minutes each, most of it improvised, laid down in a studio in Mondsee, Austria. It’s completely accessible, it invites immersion, and the more I listen to it, the more secret doors I find myself entering. It’s also a wonderful-sounding album; the Bosendorfer Imperial is rich and resonant.
True that Mingus played bass on Paul Bley's 1953 "Introducing Paul Bley" (released on Mingus and Max Roach's Debut records), but I'm not sure you can give Paul Bley much credit for introducing Mingus to the world. You are probably aware of the "Baron Mingus" years (1945-1949) when Mingus released almost 2 dozen sides on the West Coast (this was before he dropped out of the scene to be a mailman, after which he was brought back into the scene by Red Norvo). Anyway, Bley is, like Motian, a man with a pretty amazing musical legacy who seems overlooked.