Paul Motian

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Paul Motian

Joe Lovano, Paul Motian and Bill Frisell in Rome
Background information
Birth name Paul Motian
Born 25 March 1931(1931-03-25)
Origin Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Died 22 November 2011(2011-11-22) (aged 80)
Genres Jazz
Occupations Drummer, composer
Instruments Drums, percussion
Associated acts Bill Frisell, Joe Lovano, Bill Evans

Stephen Paul Motian[1] (25 March 1931 – 22 November 2011)[2][3] was an American jazz drummer, percussionist and composer of Armenian extraction.

He first came to prominence in the late 1950s in the piano trio of Bill Evans, and later led several groups. Motian played an important role in freeing jazz drummers from strict time-keeping duties.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Motian was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and raised in Providence, Rhode Island. After playing guitar in his childhood, Motian began playing the drums at age 12, eventually touring New England in a swing band. During the Korean War he joined the Navy.

Motian became a professional musician in 1954, and briefly played with pianist Thelonious Monk. He became well known as the drummer in pianist Bill Evans's trio (1959–64), initially alongside bassist Scott LaFaro and later with Chuck Israels.[4][5]

Subsequently, he played with pianists Paul Bley (1963-4) and Keith Jarrett (1967–76). Other musicians with whom Motian performed and/or recorded in the early period of his career included Lennie Tristano, Warne Marsh, Lee Konitz,[6] Joe Castro, Arlo Guthrie (Motian performed briefly with Guthrie in 1968-69, and performed with the singer at Woodstock), Carla Bley, Charlie Haden, and Don Cherry. Motian subsequently worked with musicians such as Marilyn Crispell, Bill Frisell, Leni Stern, Joe Lovano, Alan Pasqua, Wolfgang Muthspiel, Bill McHenry, Stephane Oliva, Frank Kimbrough, and many more.

Later in his career, Motian became an important composer and group leader,[7] recording initially for ECM Records in the 1970s and early 1980s and subsequently for Soul Note Records, JMT Records, and Winter & Winter Records, before returning to ECM in 2005.[4] From the early 1980s he led a trio featuring guitarist Bill Frisell and saxophonist Joe Lovano, occasionally joined by bassists Ed Schuller, Charlie Haden or Marc Johnson, and other musicians, including Jim Pepper, Lee Konitz, Dewey Redman and Geri Allen. In addition to playing Motian's compositions, the group recorded tributes to Thelonious Monk and Bill Evans, and a series of Paul Motian on Broadway albums, featuring original interpretations of jazz standards.

Despite his important associations with pianists, Motian's work as a leader since the 1970s rarely included a pianist in his ensembles and relied heavily on guitarists. Motian's first instrument was the guitar, and he apparently retained an affinity for the instrument: in addition to his groups with Frisell, his first two solo albums on ECM featured Sam Brown, and his Electric Bebop Band featured two and occasionally three electric guitars. The group was founded in the early 1990s, and featured a variety of young guitar and saxophone players, in addition to electric bass and Motian's drums, including saxophonists Joshua Redman, Chris Potter, Chris Cheek, and Tony Malaby, and guitarists Kurt Rosenwinkel, Brad Shepik, Wolfgang Muthspiel, Steve Cardenas, Ben Monder, and Jakob Bro.

In 2011, Motian's playing was featured on six new recordings; Live at Birdland with Lee Konitz, Brad Mehldau and Charlie Haden, Samuel Blaser's Consort in Motion, No Comment by Augusto Pirodda with Gary Peacock, Further Explorations with Chick Corea and Eddie Gomez and finally Ghosts of the Sun by Bill McHenry, which was released - by coincidence - on the day of Motian's death. His final album as bandleader was The Windmills of Your Mind, featuring vocal performances by Petra Haden.

Motian died on November 22, 2011 at New York's Mount Sinai Hospital of complications from myelodysplasic syndrome.[8]

[edit] Discography

[edit] As leader

Compilations

[edit] As sideman

With Michael Adkins

With Geri Allen and Charlie Haden

With Tim Berne, plus Ed Schuller (and sometimes C. Herb Robertson)

With Samuel Blaser

With Paul Bley

With Jakob Bro, plus Bill Frisell, Lee Konitz and Ben Street

  • Balladeering (Loveland, 2009)

With Chick Corea and Eddie Gomez

  • Further Explorations (Universal Classics/Jazz Japan, 2011)

With Marilyn Crispell

With Bill Evans

With Pierre Favre

With Bill Frisell

With Anat Fort, plus Perry Robinson and Ed Schuller

  • [2] (ECM, 2004)

With Charlie Haden

With Keith Jarrett

With Frank Kimbrough

  • Play (Palmetto, 2006)

With Lee Konitz, Brad Mehldau, Charlie Haden

With Russ Lossing

With Joe Lovano

With Bill McHenry

With Stephan Oliva and Bruno Chevillon

  • Fantasm - The Music of Paul Motian (BMG France/RCA Victor, 2000)

With Enrico Pieranunzi

With Augusto Pirodda

  • No Comment (Jazzwerkstatt, 2011)

With Enrico Rava

With Martin Speake, plus Bobo Stenson and Mick Hutton

With Bobo Stenson, plus Anders Jormin

With Jacob Sacks, Eivind Opsvik and Mat Maneri

With Tethered Moon (Trio with Masabumi Kikuchi and Gary Peacock)

  • First Meeting (Winter & Winter, 1997)
  • Chansons d’Édith Piaf (Winter & Winter, 1999)
  • Experiencing Tosca (Winter & Winter, 2004)

With Pietro Tonolo, Gil Goldstein and Steve Swallow

[edit] References

  1. ^ His surname is Armenian, and is often mispronounced "Moe-tee-un;" however, Paul Motian pronounces it "MO-shun."[1]
  2. ^ "Paul Motian Dies at 80". JazzTimes. http://jazztimes.com/sections/news/articles/28981-paul-motian-dies-at-80. Retrieved 22 November 2011. 
  3. ^ Paul Motian, Jazz Drummer, Is Dead at 80, The New York Times, November 22, 2011
  4. ^ a b Huey, Steve. "Paul Motian: Biography". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/paul-motian-p107888/biography. Retrieved 23 November 2011. 
  5. ^ Berendt, Joachim-Ernst (1976). The Jazz Book. Paladin. p. 298. 
  6. ^ Ind, Peter (2005). Jazz Visions:Lennie Tristano and his legacy. Equinox. p. 74. ISBN 9781845532819. 
  7. ^ "Paul Motian". The Daily Telegraph (London). 24 November 2011. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/music-obituaries/8914003/Paul-Motian.html. 
  8. ^ McLellan, Dennis (24 November 2011). "Paul Motian dies at 80; jazz drummer and composer". Los Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-paul-motian-20111124,0,4626692.story. Retrieved 25 November 2011. 

[edit] External links

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