Open, To Love cover

Open, To Love

Released

Two years after sowing his 1971 classic, Ballads, pianist Paul Bley reaped this rich crop of solo piano selections. Alongside his own timeless music, he pays homage to Carla Bley (his take on “Ida Lupino” is a stunner) and Annette Peacock, whose “Nothing Ever Was, Anyway” cathartically upsets the otherwise contemplative mood on a relatively aggressive note. Whatever the register, intimacy rules the day as if it were night, courting darkness into the foreground as a means of personal growth. Indeed, this is an album that evolves the more we listen to it.

Tyran Grillo

Recommended by

Suggestions
Skullsplitter cover

Skullsplitter

Eric Chenaux
After the Fall cover

After the Fall

Jack DeJohnette, Gary Peacock, Keith Jarrett
Three for Shepp cover

Three for Shepp

Marion Brown
Ocean Bridges cover

Ocean Bridges

Damu the Fudgemunk, Raw Poetic, Archie Shepp
Cloudward cover

Cloudward

Mary Halvorson
Instrumentals cover

Instrumentals

Nels Cline, Scott Amendola, Devin Hoff
Cumbia Siglo XXI cover

Cumbia Siglo XXI

Meridian Brothers
Cosmic Lieder: The Darkseid Recital cover

Cosmic Lieder: The Darkseid Recital

Darius Jones, Matthew Shipp
Artlessly Falling cover

Artlessly Falling

Mary Halvorson