Tír Na HiFi

Ah no.....a much loved drummer, by me anyway. Will play something in his memory later tonight. RIP Paul. Bill and Scott will be glad of your company....

So sad. He will be greatly missed. Without a doubt (in my mind, at least), the finest drummer of his generation and one of the best of the 20th century (in any genre). He was never a man to simply "keep the beat", but rather preferred to challenge, confront and provoke the frontmen of his groups (in a similar way to Elvin Jones' work with John Coltrane in the early Sixties) into producing their best work. His work with Bill Frisell and Joe Lovano produced some of the finest jazz of the last thirty years and he was always eager to work with younger players. But, as Dermot so rightly mentioned, his extraordinary work with Bill and Scott might be what many remember him for.

Waltz for Debby: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Q-uuxX7X24 (this performance never fails to break my heart - timeless, crystalline perfection that will never date and which will outlast all of us)

Some priceless live footage from 1962 with Chuck Israels on bass: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsOBTwCK0GA

And from his wonderful 1990 tribute album to Bill: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K84a3N6Chc0 (a beautifully elegiac performance that says so much, so profoundly in its simple spareness)

The world is poorer for his passing.

Thank you Paul for all that....