Milestone
2004
Circles
About This Album
Circles, issued on Fantasy's jazz imprint, reissues two Milestone recordings, Paul Bley's Synthesizer Show from 1971, andPaul Bley & Scorpio from 1972 (minus one track, "Mr. Joy," the opening cut from the former). Bley plays the ARP 2600 synthesizer as well as acoustic, RMI, and Fender Rhodes pianos on both outings. Bley's intention with Synthesizer Show was, according to Michael Cuscuna in his original liner notes to the first album, to use the synthesizer as an improvising instrument. In the company of three separate rhythm sections -- including one with Frank Tusa and Bob Moses -- Bley goes about his tentative, cryptic, and pointillistic explorations in an angular, cryptic, and restrained way. Part of this is because for all the synth's exploratory sonic capabilities, the ARP 2600 allowed only one note to be played at a time. Chords were executed courtesy of other keyboards and overdubbing. But this is no mere fusion record; there is only one funky, groove-oriented piece here, and that one feels more like a hard boppish piece of soul-jazz. This is, in the truest sense of the word, an avant-jazz outing, with the free jazz end of the spectrum explored in the rest of the compositions here -- all written by Bley's wife at the time, Annette Peacock.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,6,7,9,10 and 13)

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