Psalm - Paul Motian Band (1982)

Motian’s career was long and varied o_O. He did a string of releases for ECM as a bandleader in the 70s and early 80s featuring Joe Lovano on sax and guitar wizard Bill Frisell (O_o). These aren’t particularly famous or classic records, but they do sound great, and all the players are in excellent form.

Frisell, in particular, has a soaring electric sound that contrasts to a lot of his more low-key, conversational sort of playing (then again, he can be all over the place, stylistically).

It’s all very slow and meditative in line with the title, and even when it starts cooking there’s an elegance to it that’s hard to achieve.

Tracks I Liked

White Magic - Frisell takes over

Fantasm - Leaves everyone a lot of space to work in, and sounds great.