Categories
Composer/Performer Music Tribute

 Forty Years of Musical Adventures

By Mark Armanini

I first met Paul Plimley in 1982. We shared a concert program at the UBC Recital Hall. This meeting quickly turned into the founding of the Vancouver Pro Musica, which the first meeting included Paul Plimley, Paul Alexander (Nichols), Janine Oye, and Glenn Burr. From these post student days, Paul grew and developed his improvisational art and allowed me to witness his ever expanding ever maturing artistic vision. If I could summarize his path in two words they would be ‘musically adventurous’. 

1984 Photo Credit: Graeme Elliot - L to R Front - Paul Plimley, Paul Nicholls, Amy Cheng, Rear- Mark Armanini, Richard Payne
1984 Photo of the Vancouver ProMusica. L to R Front – Paul Plimley, Paul Nicholls, Amy Cheng, Rear- Mark Armanini, Richard Payne – Photo Credit: Graeme Elliot
"Young composers put on a show of their own"; The Vancouver Sun, Sept. 20, 1984. Byline: Susan Mertens Topic: Vancouver ProMusica Society
The Vancouver Sun, Sept. 20, 1984. Article published about the Vancouver ProMusica Society. Byline: Susan Mertens

Paul played every Jazz Festival in Vancouver from its inception and almost as many across Canada. Along the way was a memorable Jazz Festival opening in 1992 at 837 Davie Street (currently the address of the Canadian Music Centre) with Paul and Lisle Ellis, which was captured in the Laurie Gish photos from that day. 

Over the next decade my interest in Paul’s artistry blossomed with greater insight into his depth, intensity, musical adventurism and technical freedom. Annual performances at the Jazz Festival continued to develop and point the way. His fearless accuracy, classical touch and full physical involvement were phenomenal, only to be fully appreciated in live performance.

I remember the instant positive reaction from Paul when I suggested we work on Fingertips to Freedom an improvised piano concerto. This is a work that pushed boundaries, challenging both Paul and the CBC Orchestra. Supported by the 2000 Jazz Festival, the Canada Council for the Arts, Producer Jon Siddall of the CBC, Artistic Director Ken Pickering and Financial Officer Robert Kerr, Fingertips to Freedom was premiered July 2, 2000 with John Zoltek conductor. 

July 2, 2000 - Improvisations for Orchestra concert, a showcase for Canadian composers - Fingertips To Freedom  premiered as part of this concert presented by the Coastal Jazz and Blues Society in Vancouver.
July 2, 2000 – Improvisations for Orchestra concert program cover. A showcase for Canadian composers – Fingertips To Freedom premiered as part of this concert presented by the Coastal Jazz and Blues Society in Vancouver.

One of the big audience supporters was surprizingly David Lemon, the former Magic Flute proprietor. Mr. Lemon compared the work to the premiere of the Beethoven 2nd piano concerto where the composer played the solo part from a sparsely scratched piano part, ie. largely improvised. This is my vision of Paul’s unique and world class artistry. Able to focus, listen and react spontaneously.

Together we were able to invent a paradoxical work : a totally scored orchestra part and totally improvised solo part where the soloist is following the orchestra (usually the orchestra follows the soloist).

Designed for maximum freedom to improvise, the work is able to change from performance to performance and to employ different solo instrument(s). The orchestral material from the first movement is contributed by myself and the second movement from Paul, enabling him to take the solo part into the stratosphere. The solo part in our recording is fully integrated into the orchestral framework.

After a 10 year wrestle and kufuffle in Canada after our Canada Council Recording grant was awarded, we were unable to lure any orchestra or the CBC to record the work. In 2015 we travelled to Prague, Czech Republic where the equally adventuresome Prague Modern ensemble recorded the work at Sono Recording Studio, which I believe is one of the highlights of Paul’s and my career.

2015 Paul Plimley and Mark Armanini at Sono Studio. Photo Credit: Ondřej Melecký
2015 Paul Plimley and Mark Armanini at Sono Studio. Photo Credit: Ondřej Melecký 
Paul Plimley with Marion Lajava, conductor of the Prague Modern. at Sono Studio. Photo Credit: Ondřej Melecký
Paul Plimley with Marion Lajava, conductor of the Prague Modern. at Sono Studio. Photo Credit: Ondřej Melecký
Fingertips to Freedom CD cover - Paul Plimley soloist with Prague Modern Orchestra
Fingertips to Freedom CD cover – Paul Plimley soloist with Prague Modern Orchestra
2015 Front - Paul Plimley - Rear - David, Mark Armanini, Marion at Sono Studio. Photo Credit: Ondřej Melecký
2015 Front – Paul Plimley – Rear – David Daniel, leader of the Prague Modern, Mark Armanini, and Marion Lajava conductor; at Sono Studio. Photo Credit: Ondřej Melecký
Paul Plimley rehearsing on piano; at Sono Studio. Photo Credit: Ondřej Melecký
Paul Plimley rehearsing on piano; at Sono Studio. Photo Credit: Ondřej Melecký
Paul Plimley, soloist with the Prague Modern Orchestra; at Sono Studio. Photo Credit: Ondřej Melecký
Paul Plimley, soloist with the Prague Modern Orchestra; at Sono Studio. Photo Credit: Ondřej Melecký
2007 China Tour with Mei Han Art Ensemble

Other notable adventures: Paul and I shared a 2007 tour to mainland China. An outstanding memory was a concert at the Nanjing Science and Technology University with Han Mei, zheng; Randy Raine-Reusch, multiple instruments; myself on bass, and Paul on piano.

2007 Tour of Mainland China in Hangzhou L to R - Randy Raine-Reusch, Paul Plimley, Dr. Tian Yaonong, Director, School of Music, Hangzhou Normal University, Mei Han and Mark Armanini Photo Credit: Liang Wei
2007 Tour of Mainland China in Hangzhou L to R – Randy Raine-Reusch, Paul Plimley, Dr. Tian Yaonong, Director, School of Music, Hangzhou Normal University, Mei Han and Mark Armanini Photo Credit: Liang Wei

With a young student audience, woefully deprived of any chance know what to expect or to listen to in abstract expressionist improvisation, they went wild for Paul. I remember clearly Paul being mobbed on stage after the performance by scores of young students in a natural spontaneous reaction to his freedom loving style.

2007 Tour of Mainland China - Paul with young fans in Hangzhou, China Photo Credit: Liang Wei
2007 Tour of Mainland China – Paul with young fans in Hangzhou, China Photo Credit: Liang Wei

A direct and powerful communication style.

 Over the past 40 years there have been many, many lovely times with Paul quietly playing guitar and bass together, travelling to Montana (land of the Dental Floss Tycoon) to visit John Zoltek and, I even painted Paul’s house on Waterloo Street.

Paul was one of the most widely listened and stylistically flexible musician I have known, from attending a live performance of Nikhil Banerjee, sitar at the UBC Recital Hall ( leading to his CD with Trinchy Sankaran) to the Beatles box set of Sgt Pepper, Frank Zappa’s Montana Dental Floss Tycoon, to the box set of the complete recorded works of Artur Rubenstein and the many recordings of Duke Ellington.

Paul took advantage of the recorded riches available today, riches that found his way into his playing in a natural and very contemporary way.

I see his unique artistic legacy be a reminder of his passion and uncompromising approach to loving life and art, to personal freedom, integrity and respect for life in all its forms, and armed with knowledge of the past yet unburdened and unbound by tradition.

Mark Armanini, December 2022

2010 Paul Plimley and Mark Armanini, Photo credit: Laurie Gish
2010 Paul Plimley and Mark Armanini, Photo credit: Laurie Gish