Virtuosi (album)

Virtuosi
Studio album by Barry Altschul, Paul Bley & Gary Peacock
Released	1976
Recorded	June 28, 1967 Nola's Penthouse Sound Studios, NYC
Genre	Jazz
Length	33:11
Label	Improvising Artists IAI 373844
Producer	Paul Bley
Paul Bley chronology
In Haarlem - Blood (1966) Virtuosi (1976) Ballads (1963-67)

Virtuosi is an album by drummer Barry Altschul, pianist Paul Bley and bassist Gary Peacock recorded in 1967 and released on Bley's own Improvising Artists label in 1976.[1]

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
MusicHound Jazz	[3]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz	[4]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide	[5]
The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz	[6]

The editors of AllMusic awarded the album 2½ stars, and reviewer Eugene Chadbourne suggested that listeners could find the music "either endlessly fascinating if the time is there to focus on every detail, or a kind of irrelevant background patter whose components could be reordered endlessly without any change in meaning."[2]

The authors of The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings noted that the album "sounds... very much like Bley's own trio work of the period," and stated: "Bley... tends to dominate proceedings, though Altschul's continuous flow of ideas would be impressive were it registered more distinctly; not even CD gives a faithful rendition of some of his softer figures and effects."[4]

Writing for MusicHound Jazz, Steve Holtje commented: "to hear this trio's kaleidoscopic deployment of its considerable yet restrained resources is to witness improvisational interaction at the highest level."[3]

Track listing

1. "Butterflies" (Annette Peacock) - 15:54
2. "Gary" (Peacock) - 17:10

Personnel

• Paul Bley - piano
• Gary Peacock - bass
• Barry Altschul - drums

References

1. Paul Bley catalog, accessed June 20, 2014
2. Chadbourne, Eugene. "Barry Altschul: Virtuosi". AllMusic. Retrieved April 22, 2024.
3. Holtje, Steve; Lee, Nancy Ann (1998). MusicHound: The Essential Album Guide. Schirmer. p. 32.
4. Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (1998). The Penguin Guide to Jazz on Compact Disc. Penguin Books. p. 35.
5. Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 27. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
6. Larkin, Colin, ed. (2004). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz. Virgin Books. p. 97.