Blues For Red

Recorded at Barigozzi Studio, Milano, Italy in May 1989.

This album by pianist Paul Bley was recorded in Italy in 1989. The album nearly floats on the strength of its clarity and warmth. The title song opens a set that moves into a procession of largely blues-based pieces. Though Bley has often eschewed some traditional blues forms, he has always been a blues-based artist at his core. By turns ruminative, relaxed, melancholy, hopeful, and celebratory, BLUES FOR RED is yet another excellent offering from a man who has made numerous recordings in the solo piano genre. Furthermore, its emphasis on the blues makes this an important work in his catalog. BLUES FOR RED stands as a fine counterpart to his early-'70s recording, OPEN, TO LOVE. The two together offer a varied and broad portrait of this important pianist.