condition (record/cover): VG+ (light marks) / VG+ (ring wear)

The last of the American Quartet records, recorded in 1976 and made up almost entirely of Paul Motian's compositions rather than the leader's, which tells you something about how the band worked. Keith Jarrett, Dewey Redman, Charlie Haden and Motian had been playing together for five years by this point and Byablue has the settled, unforced quality of a group that no longer needs to demonstrate anything. Motian's tunes are spare and slightly melancholy, Redman plays with enormous warmth, and Jarrett stays largely out of the way. Then the quartet stopped, and the solo concerts and the European group took over completely.

Impulse! pressing. The quiet ending to the most underrated chapter of the discography.