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
Rec01 cover

Rec01

Collin Olan
Rubicon cover

Rubicon

Mats Eilertsen
 Y'Y cover

Y'Y

Amaro Freitas
Equilibrium cover

Equilibrium

Matthew Shipp
Edge of Time cover

Edge of Time

Norma Winstone
Book of Days cover

Book of Days

Meredith Monk
Gefion cover

Gefion

Jakob Bro, Thomas Morgan, Jon Christensen
Confluence cover

Confluence

JGrzinich, Seth Nehil
Polyhymnia cover

Polyhymnia

Yazz Ahmed