Oscar Peterson is the most famous jazz musician from Montreal, and probably from Canada, in fact. He was one of the greats, certainly. And I don't mean this as a slight in any way, but I'm not sure that his will be the longest-lasting influence. I think Paul Bley's is, and will be, more significant for two main reasons: his conceptual contributions, and the importance of the people that he shared them with during his astonishing career. Aside from Miles Davis, I don't think anyone has a list of collaborators with the diversity of Bley's: Charlie Parker, Charles Mingus, Charlie Haden, Ornette Coleman, Pat Metheny, Chet Baker, Bill Evans, Gary Peacock, Carla Bley, and many others. Not only is this list of giants impressive on its own, but it seems as if Bley was involved with them at pivotal moments of their careers, and therefore of jazz history itself. A good place to learn about Bley's work is his 1999 autobiograpy, Stopping Time: Paul Bley and the Transformation of Jazz. It's surprising, insightful, funny and moving: sort of like his music. Here's "When Will the Blues Leave?" from his 1962 album, Footloose (with Steve Swallow and Pete LaRoca) one of his great trio recordings and a major contributor to the style of Keith Jarrett, among others: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyjis-gBwAM.

Another interesting moment in the DVD called, Keith Jarrett: The Art of Improvisation is when, after a soundcheck, both members of the Standards Trio rhythm section (Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette) sit down at separate pianos (apparently Jarrett likes to choose one at the last minute) and begin improvising together. The fact that every member of the trio is a multi-instrumentalist isn't a big surprise, but the way that Peacock described the importance of the piano in an interview segment was: He got to the essence of the instrument by saying that it's vital for a bassist, for any musician really, to play the piano because "it provides context", which is a very cool way of saying harmony ("setting" is another good one). It reminded me of the fact that notes only have meaning in relation to other notes, and that these relationships can become increasingly complex and interesting when we take the time to listen with this in mind. (It also explains why perfect pitch is of no importance in the making of music - it's entirely based on relative pitch, i.e. hearing the notes in context.) I once had a teacher who said that Gary Peacock was his favourite bassist because "every note he plays is a surprise and yet somehow just right". I suppose a lifetime of intense harmonic study had something to do with it. Here he is in another great trio, with Paul Bley and Paul Motian, playing "Don't You Know" from their 1999 album, Not Two Not One: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RidEEFURoAs