Howard Riley -Shaped 1977(mosaic lp, GCM 781)

Howard Riley, one of the great pioneers of the European 'free' scene, probably deserves to be better known than he is.
A virtuoso pianist he started playing at a very young age first appearing on record with Barry Guy in the late 60's..and continuing the association well into the present.
Beginning in 1971 with 'flight'Riley ,Guy and drummer Tony Oxley created one of the most imaginative sequences of lp's in the genre, for Me personally among the most rewarding music ever, records i can listen to with endless fascination and a complete and utter lack of listener fatigue.

Riley is also known for his associations with the London Jazz Composers Orchestra, SME , Keith Tippett, Lol Coxhill,Trevor Watts , John Stevens and Jaki Byard(feathers with Jaki 1981).
Riley sometimes operates within a relatively straight jazz framework, among the great ones in that vein is 'wishing on the moon' made with one of his regular projects,'feathers' featuring Mario Castronari and Tony Marsh.

This solo performance is in Riley's own words "one extended continually evolving piano solo improvisation in which my only starting points were 4 very short musical shapes that were capable of being interrelated during the course of the improvisation."

Recorded at Riverside Studios England 9th of July 1976
enjoy!!