Tributes from the Press
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Georgia Straight – May 19th, 2022
by Mike Usinger on May 19th, 2022 at 9:39 AM
Paul Plimley. Photo Credit: BRIAN NATION.
The Vancouver jazz scene is mourning the passing of pianist Paul Plimley. Friends, fans, and musical collaborators are reporting that Plimley passed away from cancer at the age of 69.
One of the city’s most gifted improvisors, the pianist was a founder of Vancouver’s New Orchestra Workshop Society in 1977, as well as a mainstay of the Vancouver International Jazz Festival. Over the course of a career that spanned six decades he recorded albums as a bandleader with the likes of bassists Lisle Ellis and Barry Guy, and percussionist Trichy Sankaran.
As a respected collaborator, he also made records with American sax player Joe McPhee, guzheng innovator Mei Han, and California composer Anthony Davis.
First enamoured with rock giants such as Cream, Jimi Hendrix, and Led Zeppelin, Plimley’s world was rocked in his mid-teens when he discovered improvised American jazz. That set him down a path which established him as one of the greats of the Canadian jazz scene.
While technically gifted, Plimley was noted for understanding that playing music should also be joyful and fun. In a review of the 2012 collaboration Hexentrio (which featured the pianist with Guy, and Swiss drummer Lucas Niggli) long-time Straight jazz critic Alexander Varty wrote, “But there’s more than mere technique going on in this music, which ranges from hushed, impressionistic meditations to scarifying blasts of noise to fleeting passages of sweetness and light. What most animates the band is its giddy physicality, likely stemming from the curious corporeal rapport between the drummer and the pianist.”
That joy was also a hallmark of Plimley offstage. On Facebook, friend Jhayne Faust wrote. “It feels impossible that we’ve been robbed so soon of his goofy laughter and kind heart, his iconoclastic, arty jokes and his frankly adorable everything else. He was a soft, gentle man, who did his best and was, quite often, successful at it. I was blessed to know him. We were all blessed. May his memory always be a celebration.”
Jazz writer Mark Miller weighed in with, “I am stunned by word tonight from Vancouver of the passing of Paul Plimley, one the Canadian jazz scene’s true originals, at the age of 69. I once described him as ‘an impulsive improviser whose considerable expressivity and physicality at the keyboard, post-Cecil Taylor, was leavened by a lyricism born—he would say—of Debussy and a twinkling sense of humour, if not mischief, entirely of his own.’”
Vancouver composer Lan Tung remembered Plimley as someone who was above all willing to share his knowledge with his peers, whether they were established or just starting out.
“To Paul Plimley, a great friend and mentor!,” Tung wrote on Facebook. “Paul was willing to spend the time to play with me when I was just at the beginning stage of improvising. He taught me so much. He was a great influence and inspiration to so many. He named his commission for the Orchid Ensemble ‘Proliferasian’, and later allowed me to call my new ensemble in that name. When Paul came to Orchid Ensemble’s rehearsals of the piece, we had a 4th part to the trio—that’s his dance. He demonstrated with his body how we would all play in different tempo at the same time…”
Here’s a Coastal Jazz video from last year in which Plimley discusses his career, his love and passion for music on full display.
Pianisteli Jun 28, 2022
The Free Jazz Collective June 14, 2022
The Canadian pianist Paul Plimley passed, from cancer, on May 19. It was a sudden event. He had moved to a hospice just two weeks before. Around that time, I had written a review of a remarkable recording by Paul with John Oswald and Henry Kaiser, At One Time. Before it appeared in print, John told me about Paul’s condition and asked if I would share the review with him before publication. I did. The review appeared in print the day of Paul’s death. It’s available at www.thewholenote.com and Paul Acquaro reviews the recording here as well. It’s been one of my favorite recordings of the past year, a unique revision of the act of collective improvisation.
During that interval between Paul’s entering hospice and his death, John Oswald compiled an album length anthology in collaboration with Paul. Called simply Paul Plimley, it’s available on Bandcamp and it’s the best kind of tribute from one collaborator to another, full of the rare wit that they shared. John is a highly creative improvising saxophonist and has been for about forty-five years, but he’s likely better known for his work in Plunderphonics, his term for the appropriation and deconstruction of old music and its reassemblage into the new. The program includes two of John’s pieces with Paul’s participation as pianist, radical remodellings of two very different works from the European classical tradition, one entitled Oswald’s 1st piano concerto by Tchaikovsky (as suggested by Michael Snow) , which ironically begins with Paul quoting Grieg, and Para D, a reworking of Satie’s ballet score for Parade.
As strong as their musical relationship is, the relationships of Paul and John to Cecil Taylor’s music may be even stronger. Paul studied with Taylor at the Creative Music Studio in 1978-79 and managed to be the pianist on a Cecil Taylor record, playing on the orchestral Legba Crossing in 1988. John’s first venture into Plunderphonics was the construction of a kind of “Cecil Taylor Quartet”, combining solo recordings of Taylor, Steve Lacy, Barre Phillips and the late Toronto drummer Larry Dubin, a piece inspired by Michael Snow’s efforts to arrange a duet performance of Taylor and Dubin, a drummer of genius, who had died in 1978.
The most sustained piece of Paul’s solo playing on Paul Plimley, the 8-minute “Foremost”, comes from a concert at Quebec’s FIMAV (Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville) in 2000. It comes from a duet set by Oswald and Plimley that was hastily arranged when Cecil Taylor was late for an appearance at the festival, and is drawn from a three-CD document of the event, Complicité (Victo), the year’s ultimate festival concert: a set by Oswald and Plimley, an hour of Marilyn Crispell and an hour of Cecil Taylor, likely the greatest evening of free jazz piano in Canadian history (the background here is sourced from John’s extensive note to Oswald’s 1st piano concerto by Tchaikovsky (as suggested by Michael Snow) which can be reached through that work’s title in Paul Plimley, at the bandcamp site).
There’s also a remarkable sample from the construction phase of At One Time, constructed from solo improvisations over Cecil Taylor recordings, in which we hear Paul playing vibraphone along with a 17-minute Taylor piano solo. Sprinkled throughout Paul Plimley are 11 short “pieces”, gem-like phrases and passages running from five seconds to one minute, 24 seconds, fleeting glimpses (snapshots, haikus, images), drawn from Paul’s solo CD Everything in Stages (Songlines).
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To get more of a sense of Paul Plimley’s range, his sheer brilliance and the emotional depth of his playing, there are some other recordings one might seek out. For an easy transition, recalling Taylor’s remark that “If I was a bass player, I would want to be Barry Guy” (Good grief, I just checked google for that quote and I was the first source cited—how untrustworthy is that?!?!), the place to go is Hexentrio (Intakt, 2012) by the trio of Plimley, Guy and drummer Lucas Niggli. What can I say about Lucas Niggli’s drumming? If you constructed a machine to play drums like him, it would probably overheat and break down. The group turns out to be the perfect place for Plimley, whose spectacular creative velocity (mind, fingers) could find few optimal homes.
Paul first garnered significant attention in a duo with bassist Lisle Ellis, a group that emphasized the conversational and lyrical dimensions of his playing. I’ll single out two recordings that demonstrate those aspects of Paul’s work. One is Kaleidoscope (hat ART, 1992), on which the duo present a program of Ornette Coleman compositions, most at up-tempo but all showing Paul’s gifts where the emphases are specifically melodic and rhythmic. “Peace” might rank highly among all piano performances of a Coleman composition (not far off Paul Bley’s fine avant-funk recording of “Rambin’” recorded in 1966, on the eponymous LP). Another recording involving Ellis, in which Paul’s clarity and empathy shine through, is Sweet Freedom – Now What? (hat ART, 1995), Joe McPhee’s profound reflections on Max Roach’s civil rights-inspired works circa 1960. It’s particularly evident in the expansive, even haunted, chording of the extended “Garvey’s Ghost”; it’s equally felt in the rapid, percussive abstraction of the piano solo “A Head of the Heartbeat”, a nod to Taylor’s influence and significance as well as Roach’s message.
For a contemporaneous trio recording, the Paul Plimley Trio’s Density of The Lovestruck Demons (Music & Arts, released 1995) with Ellis and drummer Donald Robinson is very good, with a fine performance of Coleman’s “W.R.U.”
Something to suggest Paul’s significance? When Mark Miller, Canada’s most distinguished jazz chronicler, published The Miller Companion to Jazz in Canada (Mercury Press, 2001) he used one of his photographs of Paul as the cover image.
Stir: Arts and Culture Vancouver May 19, 2022
BY JANET SMITH
VANCOUVER’S JAZZ scene has lost one of its giants.
Today, social media from across the country is filled with an outpouring of grief for free jazz pianist and vibraphonist Paul Plimley, who passed away yesterday at 69, following a battle with cancer.
Plimley was a leader in the country’s jazz avant garde, a cofounder of the New Orchestra Workshop Society, and a regular at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival, where he made hundreds of appearances over the decades—including at Coastal Jazz’s inaugural event during Expo 86.
He was as well versed in classical music as he was in every style of jazz.
Plimley was a magnetic presence at the keyboard, so overtaken with the free-jazz flow that he would often lift himself off the piano bench.
“The best moment is when I am no longer thinking, and I have surrendered my normal routine mindset to want to be at one with the spirit of music. I just let go and focus and let the music happen,” he said in an interview with Coastal Jazz before last year’s fest, where he played wth his beloved Paul Plimley Trio at The Ironworks.
Plimley studied classical piano under Kum-Sing Lee at UBC in the early 1970s, later training with Karl Berger and Cecil Taylor at the Creative Music Studio in Woodstock, New York. In 1977 he founded the New Orchestra Workshop (NOW Orchestra).
Plimley was also a frequent collaborator with the bassist Lisle Ellis and was celebrated for his interpretations of Ornette Coleman’s music on the piano (an instrument once seen as antithetical to Coleman’s music).
His work with Ellis includes the duo CD Both Sides of the Same Mirror and Safecrackers with Scott Amendola, with two well-known recordings for Hat Art: Kaleidoscopes, a collection of Coleman interpretations, and a revisiting of Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite called Sweet Freedom, Now What?.
Musicians today have been remembering Plimley as a generous spirit, a mentor, an inspired artist, and a fun-loving friend.
“I cannot think of a more unique, kind, and beautiful soul than Paul Plimley,” posted Vancouver oud player and guitarist Gord Grdina. ‘“He embodied the music and beauty inside and out. I can’t believe I won’t get to hear him speak or listen to him play again. The world has lost one of the masters and guiding lights. RIP.”
“Paul was willing to spend the time to play with me when I was just at the beginning stage of improvising. He taught me so much. He was a great influence and inspiration to so many,” recalled erhu player Lan Tung on Facebook today. “He named his commission for the Orchid Ensemble “Proliferasian”, and later allowed me to call my new ensemble in that name. When Paul came to Orchid Ensemble’s rehearsals of the piece, we had a 4th part to the trio – that’s his dance. He demonstrated with his body how we would all play in different tempo at the same time.”
Here are just a few of the other posts paying tribute to Plimley today, followed by some of Plimley’s performance videos;
https://youtube.com/watch?v=UVWKtXDvr04%3Fwmode%3Dopaque%26enablejsapi%3D1
https://www.youtube.com/embed/8BHrJbSy6iQ?wmode=opaque&enablejsapi=1
Janet Smith is an award-winning arts journalist who has spent more than two decades immersed in Vancouver’s stage, screen, design, and gallery scenes. She sits on the Vancouver Film Critics’ Circle.
Original article posted May 19, 2022 here
Uncut Issue 303, August 2022
Paul Plimley Obituary
on page 111
PAUL PLIMLEY
Canadian Avant Jazzer
(1953-2022)
Pianist and vibraphone player Paul Plimley was a leading figure in Canada’s free-jazz scene for over three decades. A one-time student of Cecil Taylor, he co-founded the New Orchestral Workshop (NOW) in 1977 and collaborated extensively with bassist, Lisle Ellis.
Byline: Rob Hughes
Here are just a few of the other posts paying tribute to Plimley, followed by some of Plimley’s performance videos;