Stopping Time: Paul Bley and the Transformation of Jazz [Paperback]

Paul Bley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1999

This presents the story of a piano prodigy and his odyssey through the most turbulent years in modern jazz.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Review

...One could wish for more detail of Bley's charmed life, but even this much of a glimpse is indispensable. -- Cadence, Sept. 2000

Mr. Bley has recently published a memoir in which he proves to be a perceptive jazz critic as well as an engaging storyteller. -- The New York Times - February 13, 2000

Mr. Bley has recently published a memoir in which he proves to be a perceptive critic as well as an engaging storyteller. -- The New York Times, February 13, 2000

This book is a little jewel: sparsely written and edited, it is beautifully packaged, exquisetly illustrared, equipped with an index and biblipgraphy, and has a thorough discography with over 100 references. It was produced and crafted with love ... In the same manner that jazz music transcends all borders, this book will be circulated off this island as far and as wide as Paul Bley tours. -- l

What ties this sprawling story together is Bley's storytelling - anecdotal, humorous, opinionated and given to plain-spoken philosophical sidetrips into the nature of jazz... The photos, especially the Montreal-era ones, are a vivid complement to the text. -- The National Post, December 18, 1999 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

I was working with Pete Brown in Brooklyn on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, until midnight. Dick Garcia asked me if I'd come Saturday night and play with Bird in an armory up in Harlem beginning at one a.m. So I worked until 11:30 and then went up to play with Bird.

Bird was nowhere to be found at two a.m. We played the second set. At three a.m. exactly, Bird walked into the Armory, unpacked as if it was midnight, and of course no one said a thing, because sixteen bars into his first chart, it WAS midnight. Nobody remembered that he was late.

That was the kind of self-test that the great musicians gave themselves in that period. They always came very late to gigs. Other than the fact that they might have had trouble getting to the job on time, that was a test of their abilities: to play so well when they began that the audience forgot that they were two hours late. Just as several decades later, you could be allowed a hostile attitude abour youself and your work and everyone around you, provided that your great playing justified your attitude. But if your playing did not justify the attitude then you were dismissed as being a fake. In short, you have to be able to afford your attitude.

With Bird's concept, he would be playing a thirty-two bar tune and in the second eight, he would already be starting something that was going to get him into the bridge. Meanwhile, I was busy on bar three-and-a-half of the second eight, and in my conception of it, the bridge was a long way off.

That was a very inportant lesson to learn. You never play where you are. You play where you're going. Thinking ahead. Some could think ahead 16 bars, some could think ahead four choruses. Now I've gotten to the point where I can hear a whole solo in advance - not note for note, but structurally. I get an idea, facing a rhythm section or a particular instrument in a particular environment, of what can be done in what length of time.

In hearing Bird's ability to anticipate what was coming and always thinking ahead, I've tried to extend the idea to listening to three things before I start playing a phrase:

One: What was the last phrase that was played, and what was the last note of the last phrase that was played, and what should follow that?

Two: What music has been played throughout the history of jazz that has to be avoided, leaving me only what's left as material for the next phrase?

Three: Where would I like to get to by the time my playing is finished? All that in a split second during a pause in my phrasing. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Shoe String Press Inc.,U.S. (December 1, 1999)
• ISBN-10: 0208290591
• ISBN-13: 978-0208290595
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars get it, September 22, 2000

By 

S. Hendricks "S. Hendricks" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Stopping Time: Paul Bley and the Transformation of Jazz (Paperback)

bley is as brilliantly understated in words as he is in music, and anyone familiar with his music or the many musicians he has played with (or anyone at all into jazz) will find a lot of stories in this book -- candid, funny, and illuminating. he never stays in one place for long, but always seems to end up somewhere interesting, which is why it's impossible to stop reading. not to mention the incredible photographs. the book may be too short by half, but you get the picture...

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great stuff from a great player, June 15, 2001

By 

James W. Goetsch (Studio City, CA. USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Stopping Time: Paul Bley and the Transformation of Jazz (Paperback)

Although Paul Bley isn't given anywhere near the recognition he deserves in America, his influence on contemporary players is deep and profound, going from Chick Corea and Keith Jarrett through to nearly any younger jazz piano player today who is worthwhile. His lasting contribution is his demostration of what can be done with total freedom now that all the rules have been broken. You don't have to stay inside or outside with tonality or rhythm, being free means being able to go to either direction or any place in between.

This highly entertaining book tells his complete story from gigging in Canada to the present day. Some of the most compelling stories come from the exciting days of the October Revolution of 1964 and the formation of the the Jazz Composers Guild. There's also some great stuff on his involvement in the birth of performance synthesizers. But there's lots of great little stories including how Lucille Ball saved his life!

3 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT PLAYER! SERIOUS OMISSION!, January 30, 2002

By 

Noah Young "former bassist/current psychother... (Chatsworth, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Stopping Time: Paul Bley and the Transformation of Jazz (Paperback)

From the years 1968-1976, I was working, playing acoustic bass, under the name of Richard Youngstein. In Paul's very hip, very open book, he refers to playing a cool gig in Boston at the (long defunct) Jazz Workshop for one week with his long time drummer, Barry Altschul (whom I went to high school with in the Bronx) and "some bass player." Obviously Paul didn't remember my name, even though I recorded half an album with him on Polydor, called "The Paul Bley Synthesizer Show," produced by Orin Keepnews, and another album with his ex-wife, Annette Peacock, for French Polydor, that I heard had two titles, "Blood," and "Revenge." If anyone has a copy of either LP PLEASE let me know -I never got one & never heard it! Anyway, I also recorded under that name with Carla Bley & JCOA on "Escalator Over The Hill." I was very active in those years, playing w/Ros Rudd, Bill Dixon, Robin Kenyetta, Karl Berger, etc. I moved to LA late in 1976 and switched careers kind of, and names. I got my doctorate and license in psychology(like my late mentor, the great bassist David Izenzon)and have been in the healing field ever since. I had a trio/quartet "Erotic Zone," for some years and played periodically. Anyway, I am the same person, whether the old Richard Youngstein or the more recent Dr. Noah Young. Just thought I'd give a name to "some bass player" on the Jazz Workshop gig with mssrs. Bley and Altschul. And....Paul's book is awesome. Truly one of the giants of jazz and a priviledge to have made music with.(Write me at: [e-mail])