Paul Bley was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada; his adoptive parents were Betty Marcovitch, an immigrant from Romania, and Joe Bley, owner of an embroidery factory.
In the 1950s Bley founded the Jazz Workshop in Montreal, performing on piano and recording with be-bop 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 same 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.
In 1958, he hired young avant garde musicians Don Cherry, alto saxophonist Ornette Coleman, bassist Charlie Haden and drummer Billy Higgins to play at the Hillcrest Club in California.
In the early 1960s he was part of the Jimmy Giuffre 3, with Giuffre on clarinet, and bassist Steve Swallow. The quiet understatement of this music made it possible to overlook its degree of innovation, as well as its repertoire introducing compositions by his ex-wife, pianist and organist Carla Bley. The group's music moved towards free improvisation based on close empathy.
During the same period Bley was touring and recording with tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins, which culminated with the RCA Victor album Sonny Meets Hawk! with tenor saxophonist Coleman Hawkins.
In 1964 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: Roswell Rudd, Cecil Taylor, Archie Shepp, Carla Bley, Michael Mantler, Sun Ra, and others. The guild organized weekly concerts and created a forum for the "jazz revolution" of 1964.
Bley had long been interested in expanding the palette of his music using unconventional sounds (such as playing directly on the piano-strings). It was therefore consistent that he took an interest in new electronic possibilities appearing in the late 1960s. He pioneered the use of Moog synthesizers, performing with them before an audience for the first time at Philharmonic Hall in New York City on December 26, 1969. This "Bley-Peacock Synthesizer Show" performance, a group with Annette Peacock, who had written much of Bley's personal repertoire since 1964, was followed by her playing on the recordings Dual Unity (released under the name "Annette & Paul Bley") and Improvisie, a French release of two extended improvisiational tracks with the trio of Paul on melodic electric piano and modulated synthesizer supporting Annette Peacock's remarkable tonal experiments singing through what sounds to be a Maestro (Tom Oberheim designed) Ring Modulator, and percussion by Dutch free jazz drummer Han Bennink, who had also appeared on part of Dual Unity.
Subsequently Bley returned to a predominant focus on the piano itself.
During the 1970s, Bley, in partnership with videographer Carol Goss, was responsible for an important multi-media initiative, Improvising Artists, which issued LPs and videos documenting the solo piano recordings by Sun Ra and other works of free jazz with Giuffre, Lee Konitz, Gary Peacock, Lester Bowie, John Gilmore, Jaco Pastorius, Pat Metheny, Steve Lacy and others. Bley and Goss are credited in a Billboard Magazine cover story with the first "music video" as a result of the recorded and live performance collaborations they produced with jazz musicians and video artists.
Bley was featured in the 1981 documentary film Imagine the Sound, in which he performs and discusses the history of his music.
In the 1990s, Bley joined the faculty of the New England Music Conservatory, however he no longer teaches there. Musicians of note Satoko Fujii and Yitzhak Yedid have studied with Bley at NEC.
Bley continued to tour internationally and record prodigiously, with well over a hundred CDs released. In 1999 his autobiography, Stopping Time: Paul Bley and the Transformation of Jazz, was published. In 2003 Time Will Tell: Conversations with Paul Bley was published. In 2004 Paul Bley: la logica del caso (Paul Bley: The Logic of Chance) was published in Italian. In 2008, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada.
Like Someone in Love
Paul Bley Trio Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Hearing guitars like someone in love.
Sometimes the things I do astound me,
Mostly whenever you're around me.
Lately I seem to walk as though I had wings,
Bump into things like someone in love.
Each time I look at you,
I'm limp as a glove,
These lyrics are from the Paul Bley's song, Like Someone In Love, which talks about the feeling of being in love. The song starts with the lyrics, "Lately, I find myself out gazing at stars, hearing guitars like someone in love," which highlights the feeling of being in a lovestruck daze and being completely mesmerized by the world around us. The singer mentions that whenever they are around the person they love, they feel astounded by their own actions, almost as if they are watching themselves from afar. This line emphasizes how love can sometimes make us do things we wouldn't normally do.
Furthermore, the singer talks about how they seemingly walk on air, "Lately I seem to walk as though I had wings, bump into things like someone in love." This shows how the singer has become so consumed with love that they are not fully cognizant of their surroundings. The line "Each time I look at you, I'm limp as a glove," further reinforces the overwhelming feelings of love that the singer feels.
Overall, the lyrics of Like Someone In Love capture the beautiful yet tumultuous aspects of being in love. From feeling lost in the world to being completely consumed with love, these lyrics showcase the complex emotions that come with falling in love.
Line by Line Meaning
Lately, I find myself out gazing at stars,
Recently, I have been spending time staring at the stars,
Hearing guitars like someone in love.
I am reminded of love when I listen to guitars
Sometimes the things I do astound me,
Occasionally, my actions surprise me,
Mostly whenever you're around me.
This usually happens whenever I am around you,
Lately I seem to walk as though I had wings,
Recently, I have been walking with a lightness as if I am floating,
Bump into things like someone in love.
I am so preoccupied with love that I am clumsy,
Each time I look at you,
Whenever I gaze upon you,
I'm limp as a glove,
I become weak and powerless,
And feeling like someone in love.
I feel as though I am truly in love with you.
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: J. BURKE, J. VAN HEUSEN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Robert Mayer
One of the most fascinating and richest pianists. One of the truly greatest of the modern jazz pianists, right up there with McCoy, Bill, Herbie, Chick, Ahmad, Denny Zeitlin. Listening to this early recording, and his fantastic melodic sense and helluva swing conception, somewhat hides how modern and ahead of his time he was, as just a few years later he basically introduced the avant-garde, free jazz movement with the 1958 live recording with Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry, Charlie Haden and Ed Blackwell from a club where he was the house band leader. Although he was a strong pianist he had such a soft and gentle, nuanced melodic sense. A true master.
Michelangelo Mulieri
My favourite Jazz pianist ever..