# Gary Peacock Trio – Tangents 2017: Video

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2017/09/25/gary-peacock-trio-tangents-2017/
- Published: 2017-09-25T18:13:55+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**The number one thing a musician desires is to have his own personal sound. Electric
bassist Peacock is identifiable within two plucks on his strings; bright, warm, 
concise and incisive, he leads, weaves and directs from his axe with a railroad 
engineer with Marc Copland/b and Joey Baron/dr on this rich album.**

The band is highly intuitive and communicative, with Baron judiciously using his
sticks and brushes like a Monet as he taps and strokes the cymbals, high hat and
sides of the snare on suavely swinging pieces like “Contact” the chiming “December
Greenwings” and “Talkin’ Blues” while Peacock snaps through the piano and drums 
like a superball bouncing over a busy interstate. Copland is rich and flowing, elegiac
on “Blue in Green” and post bopping like Bud on “Tempei Tempo.” Peacock gets a deep
pluck out of “Tangents” and the team works like a three member jai alai team during“
Empty Forest.” Clever musical veerings in a jazz roundabout.

A sophisticated, forward-thinking jazz bassist, Gary Peacock is a subtle yet distinctive
musician whose intuitive, sympathetic ear for group interplay has found him crossing
from straight-ahead standards to avant-garde free jazz. While his intellectual curiosity
has drawn him to such wide-ranging pursuits as biology and Eastern philosophy, his
immense musical talents, most often associated with pianist Keith Jarrett’s “Standards”
trio, have kept him at the epicenter of progressive jazz and creative improvisation
for over four decades.

Born in Burley, Idaho in 1935, Peacock grew up in Yakima, Washington, where he took
piano lessons starting in elementary school. During his teens, he added drums to
his repertoire and played in various local bands. After high school, Peacock briefly
attended Westlake School of Music in Los Angeles before being drafted into the Army.
Stationed in Germany, the burgeoning pianist continued his musical studies and started
his own small jazz ensemble. Serendipitously, when the bassist left his group, Peacock
switched to playing bass, a move that would shape the rest of his career.

Discharged from the Army in 1956, Peacock remained for several months in Germany
before once again settling in Los Angeles. Back in California, the bassist quickly
found work playing with such West Coast luminaries as saxophonists Bud Shank and
Art Pepper, as well as guitarists Barney Kessel and Laurindo Almeida.

In 1960, Peacock married vocalist/composer/arranger/lyricist Annette Peacock (née
Coleman). A genre-bending artist, Annette Peacock would develop into a highly respected
individualist whose songs were played often by her husband and associates. It was
also during this period that Peacock befriended pianist Paul Bley while recording
trumpeter Don Ellis’ 1962 album, Essence. A Juilliard graduate and supremely adept
musician, Bley would become one of Peacock’s closest associates. Later, Bley also
formed a creative and romantic partnership with Annette after she and Gary parted
ways.

During the early ’60s, Peacock relocated to New York City, where he performed with
a bevy of big-name artists including saxophonists Jimmy Giuffre and Roland Kirk,
pianist George Russell, and others. From 1962 to 1963, he was also a member of pianist
Bill Evans’ trio, appearing on the album Trio 64 along with another longtime associate,
drummer Paul Motian. In 1964, Peacock briefly replaced bassist Ron Carter for several
live dates in trumpeter Miles Davis’ quintet. This led to his appearance on drummer
and fellow Davis alum Tony Williams’ debut as leader, 1964’s Life Time.

Coming off his experience with Davis, Peacock began a formative association with
saxophonist Albert Ayler. An aggressive free jazz artist, Ayler’s music had a profound
influence on Peacock and his wife Annette, who both toured with Ayler in Europe.
Though they eventually divorced, both Gary and Annette would continue to explore
avant-garde and free improvisation throughout the rest of their careers. With Ayler,
Peacock recorded such landmark albums as 1964’s Ghosts, 1964’s Prophecy, and 1965’
s Spirits Rejoice. The latter half of the ’60s proved to be no less formative for
the bassist, who collaborated with Bley on several dates including 1964’s Turning
Point and 1967’s Ballads. Peacock also rejoined Williams for 1965’s Spring before
rounding out the decade in 1968 with Bley’s Mr. Joy.

In 1969, due in part to suffering from a perforated ulcer, Peacock decided to take
a hiatus from performing and moved to Japan. While there, he focused his attention
on learning the Japanese language, studying Eastern medicine, and investigating 
Shintoism and Zen Buddhism. Eventually returning to music, Peacock made his debut
as a leader with Eastward (1970), which also featured pianist Masabumi Kikuchi and
drummer Hiroshi Murakami. Also while in Japan, he played with saxophonist Sadao 
Watanabe and pianist Mal Waldron, and recorded for the first time with future Jarrett
bandmate drummer Jack DeJohnette.

Returning to the States in 1972, Peacock once again diversified his interests, enrolling
in biology courses at the University of Washington. Graduating in 1976, he embarked
on a tour of Japan with Bley and drummer Barry Altschul, a date of which resulted
in the concert album Japan Suite. The following year he released his ECM debut, 
Tales of Another, which showcased his first time working with both pianist/keyboardist
Jarrett and drummer DeJohnette. From 1979 to 1983, Peacock also taught music theory
at the Cornish School of the Arts in Seattle.

Beginning in the 1980s, Peacock further explored his partnership with Jarrett and
DeJohnette with a collaboration that was eventually dubbed the “Standards” trio 
due to the group’s focus on atmospheric, inventive reworkings of American popular
songbook and jazz standards. Included among these are such highly acclaimed albums
as Jarrett’s Standards, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 (1983), Changes (1984), Standards Live(
1985), Still Live (1986), and Standards in Norway (1989).

The ’90s also proved to be a fruitful decade for the trio with the release of such
albums as The Cure (1990), Tribute (1991), Changeless (1992), and the live date 
Tokyo ’96 (1998). Also during this time, Peacock released a select if steady stream
of solo efforts, many of which featured longtime partners Bley and Motian. Included
among these are Oracle (1993), Tethered Moon (1993), Just So Happens (1994), Annette(
1995), and Mindset (1997).

The following decade also found Peacock returning to his work with Jarrett, appearing
on such albums as Inside Out (2001), Always Let Me Go: Live in Tokyo (2002), Up 
for It: Live in Juan-Les-Pins (2003), The Out-of-Towners (2004), and Yesterdays (
2009). A journeyman collaborator, Peacock continued to pair with like-minded contemporaries
such as pianist Marc Copland, with whom he recorded such albums as New York Trio
Recordings, Vol. 1: Modinha (2006) and his own Insight (2009). The bassist also 
reunited numerous times with drummer Motian for such albums as Amaryllis (2001) 
and No Comment (2011). In 2012, Peacock joined forces with saxophonist Lee Konitz,
guitarist Bill Frisell, and drummer Joey Baron for Enfants Terribles: Live at the
Blue Note. He then paired with pianist Marilyn Crispell for the 2013 duo album Azure.
In 2015, Peacock formed yet another trio configuration, this time with Baron and
Copland for the ECM date Now This.

[Free download](https://dfiles.ru/files/k9idv0se3)

### _Related_