The tour culminated with an invitation to play a 1956 New Year's Eve gig at Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz's home in Palm Springs.

During the evening, Bley collapsed on the bandstand with a bleeding ulcer and Lucy immediately took him to the Palm Springs hospital where she proceeded to pay for all of his medical care.

By 1958 the original band, with vibe player, Dave Pike, evolved into a quintet with Bley hiring young avant garde musicians trumpet player Don Cherry, alto saxophonist Ornette Coleman, bassist Charlie Haden and drummer Billy Higgins.

[citation needed] Bley's solo on "All the Things You Are" from this album has been called "the shot heard around the world" by Pat Metheny.

[6] In 1964, Bley was instrumental in the formation of the Jazz Composers Guild, a co-operative organization which brought together many free jazz musicians in New York: Bill Dixon, Roswell Rudd, Cecil Taylor, Archie Shepp, Carla Bley, Michael Mantler, Sun Ra, and others.

[5][7] The influential album, Turning Point, released by Improvising Artists in 1975, was recorded in 1964 when Bley brought John Gilmore, Gary Peacock, and Paul Motian to the University of Washington.

[5] The latter was a French release of two extended improvisational tracks with Bley on synthesizers, Peacock's voice and keyboards, and percussion by Dutch free jazz drummer Han Bennink, who had also appeared on part of Dual Unity.

IAI records and videos include performances by Jimmy Giuffre, Lee Konitz, Dave Holland, Marion Brown, Gunter Hampel, Lester Bowie, Steve Lacy, Ran Blake, Perry Robinson, Naná Vasconcelos, Badal Roy, John Gilmore, Gary Peacock, two solo piano records by Sun Ra, and others.

[11] Bley was featured in Ron Mann's 1981 documentary film Imagine the Sound, in which he performs and discusses the evolution of free jazz and his music.

Bley continued to tour in Europe, Japan, South America and the US recording prolifically as a soloist and with a wide range of ensembles.

In 1993 the Montreal International Jazz Festival produced a Paul Bley Homage concert series of four nights.

During this time, Bley also became a part-time faculty member of the New England Music Conservatory,[10] where he taught musicians Satoko Fujii[13] and Yitzhak Yedid.

[14] He would travel to Boston for one day a month, ostensibly to have lobster, often meeting with students in coffee shops as he considered that they already knew how to play, but needed guidance in life.

Paul Bley's last public performances were in 2010 playing a solo piano concert at the La Villette Jazz Festival in Paris, followed by a duo with Charlie Haden at BlueNote in New York City during a full moon.