In 1957, the first Bill Evans Trio Evans, (piano), Scott Lafaro, (bass), and Motian, (drums) recorded their debut album, “New Jazz Conceptions.” That trio went on to record three more albums including the seminal work “Sunday at the Village Vanguard,” (1961). During this period Evans was also briefly a part of Miles Davis’s Quintet and played on the iconic “Kind of Blue” album considered by many to be one of the most important and influential albums in jazz. Both Paul and Bill got the gig, and they are heard together on Russell’s debut album “The Jazz Workshop.” Paul and Bill also recorded together on Tony Scott and Jimmy Knepper’s album “Free Blown Jazz” which featured Clark Terry and Milt Hinton. His major association with pianist Bill Evans began when the two met at an audition for a George Russell record date. Starting in 1955, Paul began playing with a variety of musicians who would become jazz legends, including Oscar Pettiford, Thelonious Monk, Stan Getz and Eddie Costa. Motian dropped out of the Manhattan School of Music, and began working full time as a drummer. At the beginning of his second semester, Motian was offered a gig playing with Teddy Kotick and George Wallington at a club called The Composer Room. At this time he would go to Café Bohemia and other clubs on jam session nights, and play for free. He was discharged from the Navy in September of 1954 and studied for one semester at Manhattan School of Music on the GI Bill. By the time he graduated high-school Paul was touring New England as a drummer in a swing band.Īt age 23, Paul Motian joined the Navy, and was stationed in Brooklyn, during the Korean War. He studied guitar as a child, but switched to drums at age 11 when he asked a friend’s older brother to give him drum lessons. Motian grew up in Providence, Rode Island. They worked to free the jazz drummer from being time-keepers, allowing for a more free and fluid style as they played along with the melody. As a musician/composer, Motian and other drummers such as Ed Blackwell, Charles Moffett and Jack DeJohnette were key players in the movement to break down the barriers conventional jazz drumming had set in place. Motian’s amazingly prolific work as a drummer and composer is evident on hundreds of recordings as both a leader and essential sideman. Paul Motian was one of the most influential American drummers in the history of jazz.
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