Tenor saxophonist Chris Cheek’s connection with Paul Motian’s music provides the alpha and omega for this recording, made with the supportive pianist Zach Radwine and bassist Bob DeBoo at Clayton Studios in St Louis in June 2024. The trio plays twelve Motian compositions, among them ‘Blue Midnight’, ‘In the Year of the Dragon’, ‘Drum Music’ and ‘Manhattan Melodrama’. Cheek was drawn to the particular openness of Motian’s writing, where concise melodies and spare chord indications leave considerable space for improvisation and interpretation. The project began during the Covid period, when Cheek was living in St Louis and working with Radwine and DeBoo and developed into a recording intended to explore and document a repertoire that remains central to Motian’s distinctive contribution to jazz composition.
Cheek first worked with Motian in New York in the 1990s, becoming a member of the Electric Bebop Band, where he played alongside Chris Potter, Kurt Rosenwinkel,Wolfgang Muthspiel and bassist Steve Swallow. He appeared on several of Motian’s recordings over the following decade, including Reincarnation of a Love Bird (1994), Flight of the Blue Jay (1997), Play Monk and Powell (1999), Europe (2001) and Holiday for Strings (2002). He was also part of the ensemble that became the Paul Motian Band and recorded Garden of Eden, made for ECM in 2004. Cheek’s involvement with Motian’s music was therefore not simply that of a later interpreter: he had been closely involved with the composer and drummer’s working bands for many years.
The other two musicians are both established figures on the St Louis scene. Pianist Zach Radwine began playing piano at the age of three and was taking lessons by four. His 2023 album Turn features bassist Bob DeBoo and drummer Joseph Winstein-Hibbs, with Radwine’s own compositions forming the basis of the eight-track set. DeBoo, who grew up in Fort Worth, Texas, began as a drummer before moving towards electric and then double bass, studying at the University of North Texas and later at New York’s New School.
The Dear Paul repertoire draws widely on Motian’s catalogue. ‘Prelude 2 Narcissus’ and ‘Garden of Eden’ both come from Garden of Eden, the large, guitar-rich Paul Motian Band recording on which Cheek also played, while ‘Manhattan Melodrama’ is from the same album.
‘In the Year of the Dragon’ reaches back to It Should’ve Happened a Long Time Ago, where it appears in a spacious trio setting with Bill Frisell and Joe Lovano, and was subsequently recorded by Geri Allen, Charlie Haden and Motian on their 1989 album of the same name.
‘Blue Midnight’ is from Trioism, another Frisell-Lovano-Motian trio recording from 1994, while ‘Once Around the Park’ goes back further, appearing on Motian’s Misterioso as well as Fragments, the 1986 collaboration with Paul Bley, John Surman and Bill Frisell. ‘Morpion’ and ‘Endgame’ come from Holiday for Strings, recorded with the Electric Bebop Band, in which Cheek was a member.
If I had to pick out one tune, though, it would be ‘The Owl of Cranston’, which feels to me like the heart of the album. Larry Goldings did a great version of it too with Motian and Larry Grenadier on Awareness that came out in 1997.
‘Shakalaka’ has an earlier trio appearance on Motian in Tokyo, with Frisell and Lovano, while ‘The Owl of Cranston’ dates back to The Story of Maryam and was later recorded live at the Village Vanguard.
‘Drum Music’ originates on Le Voyage, where it forms part of ‘Cabala/Drum Music’, an early example of Motian treating the drum kit as something more than a time-keeping instrument. ‘The Divider’ comes from Live at the Village Vanguard Vol. II, recorded with the later Trio 2000 + Two. Taken together, the selections span Motian’s work from the late 1970s through to his later bands, with several of the pieces having appeared in markedly different settings over the years.
I only managed to go hear Motian (1931-2011) play once, with Bill Frisell and Joe Lovano at London’s Barbican in 1998. I haven’t seen Cheek or the other two musicians live, although I particularly liked Wild Life, a 2016 Jellymould Jazz album Cheek made with the fine London based Austrian guitarist Hannes Riepler.
What I like about Cheek’s playing is its honesty and clean articulation and, listening to this fine album, there is clearly a deep knowledge of and affection for Motian’s music, expressed ably with his bandmates.
I like all the tunes here and recommend playing the album through as a whole as they hang well together in terms of the sequencing meaning the running order. Motian’s compositional style is quirky, often taking unexpected detours, and isn’t at all a one-size-fits-all approach.
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