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
Elixir cover

Elixir

Marilyn Mazur
Comme à la Radio cover

Comme à la Radio

Areski Belkacem, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Brigitte Fontaine
Stoa cover

Stoa

Nik Bärtsch's Ronin
Continuum cover

Continuum

Nik Bärtsch's Mobile
Nostalghia - Song For Tarkovsky cover

Nostalghia - Song For Tarkovsky

François Couturier, Anja Lechner, Jean-Marc Larché, Jean-Louis Matinier
Dawn Dance cover

Dawn Dance

Collin Walcott, Steve Eliovson
Sound Grammar cover

Sound Grammar

Ornette Coleman
The Invisible Hands cover

The Invisible Hands

The Invisible Hands