Play Blue: Oslo Concert

Play Blue: Oslo Concert
Live album by Paul Bley
Released	2014
Recorded	August 2008 at the Oslo Jazzfestival, Norway
Genre	Jazz
Length	50:24
Label	ECM ECM 2373
Producer	Manfred Eicher
Paul Bley chronology
About Time (2008) Play Blue: Oslo Concert (2014)

Play Blue: Oslo Concert is a live album by pianist Paul Bley recorded in 2008 and released on the ECM label in 2014.^[1]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
The Guardian	[2]
The Buffalo News	[3]

JazzTimes stated "Hearing Bley in action, applying his own sense of order to various approaches, still feels electrifying".^[4] The Guardian review by John Fordham awarded the album 4 stars noting "Expat Canadian piano star Paul Bley, the man with the vision to hire the unknown Ornette Coleman back in the 1950s, was 75 when this solo concert was recorded by ECM's Jan Erik Kongshaug and Manfred Eicher at the Oslo jazz festival – still exposing his profound knowledge of jazz to unflinching spontaneous reexamination".^[2] The Buffalo News review said "Listen to this disc a few times, if you can. It’s a great jazz pianist playing for you how he was never pent up in anyone’s house in jazz – how he became a great and thorny and weirdly lovable jazz maverick in his old age, a kind of link between Bill Evans and Cecil Taylor".^[3] All About Jazz enthused "Bley's music rambles. He never plays anything twice, not even on a fifteen or seventeen minute tune. Every second of his music is a voyage of discovery. On Play Blue he has created a profound and timeless beauty. A career highlight".^[5]

Track listing

All compositions by Paul Bley except as indicated

1. "Far North" - 17:00
2. "Way Down South Suite" - 15:21
3. "Flame" - 7:47
4. "Longer" - 10:16
5. "Pent-Up House" (Sonny Rollins) - 6:06

Personnel

• Paul Bley — piano

References