back



It is with sincere regret to inform you that Paiste artist of 39 years Paul Motian recently passed away in Manhattan, due to complications of myelodysplastic syndrome.

Hailed as one of the most influential jazz musicians of the last 50 years, Paul had been in the pianist Bill Evans’s great trio of the late 1950s and early 1960s and in Keith Jarrett’s so-called American quartet during the 1970s. But it was in the second half of his life that Mr. Motian found himself as a composer and bandleader, with work that could be counterintuitive or straightforward, runic or crowd-pleasing.

Paul also played alongside many musicians including saxophonist Joe Lovano, guitarist Bill Frisell, with whom he had a working trio. Pianist Masabumi Kikuchi, saxophonists Greg Osby, Chris Potter and Mark Turner, with whom he played in trios and quartets; the members of the Electric Bebop Band, with multiple electric guitars, which in 2006 became the Paul Motian Band; and dozens of others, from developing players to old masters.

We have lost a true pioneer and creative visionary that helped shape Jazz music to what it is today. Thank you for your musical contributions to the world Paul, you will be sorely missed.

Your friends at Paiste.