(2006, Winter and Winter)

The Guardian: Paul Motian, On Broadway Vol 4/The Paradox of Continuity (5 stars)

New York Times: Paul Motian – Rhythm Melodist

New York Times: Lorraine Gordon, Queen of the Village Vanguard, Gets Her Due

The Sydney Herald Times: The man who helped save jazz from itself

 

“Volume three of deviously delicate percussionist Paul Motian’s On Broadway series appeared two years ago – representing the former Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett drummer’s 1980s and 90s reinventions of standard songs in the company of Bill Frisell and Lee Konitz. This is a contemporary update on the same venture, recorded last year with Japanese pianist Masabumi Kikuchi, a jaw-droppingly inspired Chris Potter on sax, and a young singer – Rebecca Martin – who may even come to upstage Norah Jones and Madeleine Peyroux.”
– John Fordham, The Guardian

“Mr. Motian’s trio sounded in some ways the inverse: minimal, slow, undefined by era. The band — Larry Grenadier on bass, Chris Potter on tenor saxophone — played two of Mr. Motian’s knotty melodies that sound as if they can be played at any speed and in any rhythm, then was joined by the singer Rebecca Martin for three standards…Ms. Martin’s voice, easy and forthright and happily unconcerned with evoking the phrasing and rhythmic nuances of old jazz singers everyone knows, relaxed the pulse, and Mr. Potter’s solos accelerated from logical, melody-based structures into a controlled language of overtones and shrieks. (An exquisite new record of this band, “Paul Motian on Broadway Vol. 4, or the Paradox of Continuity,” on Winter & Winter, is due Aug. 9. Write it down.)”
– Ben Ratliff, The New York Times

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