| Flight of the Blue Jay | |
| Type: | Album |
| Artist: | Paul Motian |
| Cover: | Flight of the Blue Jay.jpg |
| Released: | 9 May 1997 |
| Recorded: | August 20 & 21, 1996 |
| Genre: | Jazz |
| Length: | 49:01 |
| Label: | Winter & Winter |
| Producer: | Stefan F. Winter |
| Prev Title: | At the Village Vanguard |
| Prev Year: | 1995 |
| Next Title: | Trio 2000 + One |
| Next Year: | 1997 |
Flight of the Blue Jay is an album by Paul Motian, released on the German Winter & Winter label in 1997 and containing performances of bebop jazz standards by Motian with the Electric Bebop Band.[1] The album is the group's third release following the 1992 album Paul Motian and the Electric Bebop Band and the 1995 album Reincarnation of a Love Bird. The band consists of Motian and the saxophonists Chris Potter and Chris Cheek, guitarists Kurt Rosenwinkel and Brad Shepik, and bass guitarist Steve Swallow.
In a review for AllMusic, Scott Yanow wrote: "the most unusual aspect of the set... is that there are many sections where two different players solo together... Everyone plays well, but nothing really that unexpected occurs... overall, this date falls short of being memorable."[2]
The authors of The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings called the album "a strong, mixed programme," featuring a group that is "tightly integrated... responsive to changes in mood and pace, and to subtleties of light and shade." They commented: "it's getting harder to find any more superlatives for [Motian] either as writer or as performer."