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Open, to Love

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Work

Open, to Love · The Canadian pianist Paul Bley recorded this solo record on 11 September 1972. It was released that same year on ECM. Bley had by then been an innovative jazz musician for almost twenty years, and this album is regarded as his most mature and most visionary work.

Only a piano can be heard. Bley leaves many silences and plays his notes almost one at a time, an approach that would increasingly define his work later on. Critics called it one of the most influential solo piano records in jazz, and a recording that helped shape the sound of the ECM label. One reviewer compared Bley's playing to poetry, in which the composer's line stretches the way a poet lets his verse breathe with his breath. For that reason ECM later chose the album for its Touchstones series, on the label's most influential recordings.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Closer and notice the silences between the notes: what happens to the music when the pianist briefly plays nothing?

Track list

  1. 1Closer6:00Apple Music ↗
  2. 2Ida Lupino7:36Apple Music ↗
  3. 3Started5:19Apple Music ↗
  4. 4Open, To Love7:14Apple Music ↗
  5. 5Harlem3:26Apple Music ↗
  6. 6Seven7:25Apple Music ↗
  7. 7Nothing Ever Was, Anyway6:05Apple Music ↗

30-second previews via Apple Music. Listen to the whole album on Apple Music ↗

Categories: Albums and songs