About Paul Bley

"The synthesizer had become irresistible as a real time performance instrument," says legendary pianist Paul Bley, explaining why he chose to return to the synthesizer after 20 years for Synth Thesis, his completely improvised 1994 Postcards debut. On this disc, Bley explores the worlds of synthesizers and of acoustic keyboards: a unique blend emerges from this mating.

"Synthesizers have undergone an extraordinary development since my recordings for Fantasy/Milestone in the 70's," notes Bley, who also played at the first keyboard synthesizer performance at New York’s Philharmonic Hall in 1978. "Today, synthesizers can play more than one note at the same time, they have memory, and the keyboard has touch control." Showing his artistic command of this technology, Bley spontaneously composed music which is both melodically compelling and as future-oriented as we have come to expect from this great maestro.

Bley's profound, decades-long influence on the entire scope of jazz piano has been extraordinary, and he has played, as he puts it, 'everywhere, with everybody". Among the great musicians he has collaborated with are guitarists Pat Metheny, John Scofield, Bill Frisell, and John Abercrombie; saxophonists Albert Ayler, Ornette Coleman, Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins, Ben Webster, and Lester Young; trumpet players Miles Davis, Don Cherry, Harry Edison, and Roy Eldridge; drummers Art Blakey, Roy Haynes, Milford Graves, and Paul Motian; and bassists Charlie Mingus, Oscar Pettiford, Percy Heath, Gary Peacock, Steve Swallow, and Jaco Pastorius. The list could go on and on.

A resident of upstate New York, Bley is in musical demand around the world, performing in such diverse locations as Montreal, Istanbul, Biarritz, Buenos Aires, Berlin, Paris, Rome, Venice, Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Oslo, Helsinki, Los Angeles, and New York within the space of a single year.

Synth Thesis is a major step into the musical future: as the title of the last composition on the disc has it, it is "Real Magic."