Paul Motian Le Voyage Rar
'Folk Song for Rosie' opens muted with 's moody, bluesy soprano and a notably spare, melancholy bass solo from before 'Abacus' embarks on an angular, obtuse melody. 'Cabala/Drum Music' starts mournfully with an arco bass solo before launching into a drum solo, but is actually less a drummer than a percussionist on 'Le Voyage.' Throughout the disc, he works mostly from the cymbals and clicking percussion effects - the drums themselves are more commonly used in flurries of rhythmic commentary, implying the beat more than laying down a swinging foundation. 'The Sunflower' opens with another bass-drum dialogue before 's melody launches into serious interval leaps and spiraling, vaguely lines that suggest where he'd end up on his string of exceptional Silkheart albums ten years later. The closing title track finds him back on soprano, in ethereal float mode over the interplay of 's twisting lines and 's bursts that launch more intense improvisations.
Paul Motian Le Voyage Rar Cover
Is a very reflective, ruminative disc bordering on chamber jazz and marked by that distinctive ECM sound, clean but very distant. It's top-quality music, but look to for more liveliness and ebullience in this phase of 's career.
