Early life

Bley was born in Montreal, Quebec, on November 10, 1932. His adoptive parents were Betty Marcovitch, an immigrant from Romania, and Joe Bley, owner of an embroidery factory.

Later life and career

In the 1950s Bley founded the Jazz Workshop in Montreal, performing on piano and recording with bebop 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 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, Bley 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 Bley was part of the Jimmy Giuffre 3, with Giuffre on clarinet, and bassist Steve Swallow. Its repertoire included compositions by his ex-wife, pianist and organist Carla Bley. The group's music moved towards chamber jazz and free jazz. 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.

In the late 1960s, Bley took an interest in new electronic possibilities. 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 his second wife Annette Peacock, who had written much of his personal repertoire since 1964, was followed by her playing on the recordings Dual Unity (credited to "Annette & Paul Bley") and Improvisie. The latter was a French release of two extended improvisational tracks with Bley on synthesizers, Peacock's voice and keyboards, and percussion by Dutch free jazz drummer Han Bennink, who had also appeared on part of Dual Unity.

During the 1970s, Bley and his third wife, videographer Carol Goss, founded the production company Improvising Artists. The label issued Jaco, the first recording of Pat Metheny and Jaco Pastorius and other records and videos by Sun Ra, Giuffre, Lee Konitz, Dave Holland and others. Bley and Goss are credited in a Billboard cover story with the first commercial "music video".

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, where he taught musicians Satoko Fujii and Yitzhak Yedid.

Bley continued to tour internationally and record profusely, releasing almost a hundred recordings. He also published several books, such as autobiographies in 1999 (Stopping Time) and 2003 (Time Will Tell). In 2008, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada. He died on January 3, 2016, at home in Stuart, Florida, at the age of 83.

Discography

Main article: Paul Bley discography

[ Source: Wikipedia ]