When Manfred Eicher called Paul Bley in August 1972 and proposed to record a piano solo album, the Canadian pianist, 40 years old at this point, had already released 18 records as a leader. "And yet," to quote Greg Buium's liner note for the vinyl re-issue of this album, "it still feels inconceivable -- to think there were chapters in his musical life before solo piano."
Open, To Love didn't quite come out of the blue, but arrived in the context of two other seminal solo recordings that ECM's producer had initiated: Chick Corea's Piano Improvisations (released in 1971) and Keith Jarrett's Facing You (released in March 1972). Bley's solo performance holds a special place in that triumvirate of individualist perspectives and offers profound elaborations on his own compositions as well as pieces by Carla Bley and Annette Peacock.
(The Luminessence edition of Open, To Love arrives in a tip-on gatefold with new liner notes by Bley biographer Greg Buium) "On his own, Bley is even more sombre and introspective, but the music has a rare freshness and clarity, and it's perhaps the deepest glimpse yet into the way his mind works. Practically all his albums are important documents on a remarkable mind, and this is one of the best." - Richard Williams, Melody Maker (1973, Month's Best Album).
