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Jazz Articles about Carla Bley
Dawn Clement, Chris McNulty, Stella Heath, Elina Duni, John Clayton With Rene Marie & More
by Mary Foster Conklin
This broadcast includes new music from Dawn Clement, Chris McNulty, Stella Heath, Elina Duni and John Clayton featuring Rene Marie, with birthday shoutouts to Carla Bley, Betty Carter, Stevie Wonder, Virginia Mayhew, Jennifer Wharton, Audrey Silver, Deidre Rodman Stuck, Karin Krog, Nadje Noordhuis, Sarah Hanahan, Veronica Swift, Brittany Anjou and Grace Kelly among others. Happy listening and please support the artists you hear--see them live, buy their music so they can continue to comfort, distract, provoke and remind the world ...
Continue ReadingCarla Bley: Joyful Noise – Live In Hamburg 1984
by Mike Jurkovic
For a brief human moment, let us imagine that pianist/composer/maestro Carla Bley was cast as a villainess on the low-camp-crazy 60's Batman TV show. Yes, that one. The one with Adam West running around in tights. Who would Bley be? Perhaps, with her humorous inquests into any musical form that might threaten Gotham, she would be dubbed The Dabbler. Yes, The Dabbler! Or maybe, The Dancer! The woman in the opulent headpiece who always took the lead. For ...
Continue ReadingCelebrate Mothers Day with new releases by Ellie Martin, Lucia, Jamie Shew and the Premazzi/Nasser Quartet, plus birthday shoutouts to Mary Lou Williams, Carla Bley, Tania Maria & More
by Mary Foster Conklin
This broadcast celebrates Mothers Day with new releases from Ellie Martin, Lucia, Jamie Shew and the Premazzi/Nasser Quartet, with birthday shoutouts to Mary Lou Williams, Carla Bley, Tania Maria, Gunhild Carling, Jill McCarron, Andrea Superstein, honorable men John Proulx and Lincoln Briney, among others. Happy listening and please support the artists you hear -see them live, buy their music so they can continue to comfort, distract, provoke and remind the world that A Woman's Place is in the Groove. Many ...
Continue ReadingThe Music of Carla Bley: Late Carla, Part 4
by Larry Slater
Carla Bley's career spanned 60 years and included big band, small group, and a few duet recordings with her long time partner Steve Swallow. The music ranged from raucous free jazz to meditative chamber music. Her distinctive music never had a large following, which was just fine with her. In 2018 Carla was diagnosed with brain cancer, which took her life in October of 2023. In this final hour of the music of Carla Bley, you'll hear her late recordings: ...
Continue ReadingInterpreting the music of Carla Bley, Part 3
by Larry Slater
Carla Bley always considered herself a primarily a composer She said “I would rather write music than perform it. I'm not an improviser, basically, because I'm not quick enough. I'm a composer because I'm so slow... my writing is just like playing very slowly and my playing is like writing..."Carla's legacy, like all composers, rests with her compositions. In this hour you'll hear some of Carla Bley's tunes performed by her contemporaries, including Mary Halvorson, Steve Kuhn, Steve ...
Continue ReadingThe Music of Carla Bley, part 2; Small and Large Ensemble Recordings
by Larry Slater
The jazz world lost a true original free spirit in October of 2023 when t.he composer, arranger and pianist Carla Bley died at age 87. Carla led both big bands and smaller groups throughout the '70s, '80s and '90s, typically utilizing many of the same musicians, including the trombonist Gary Valente, saxophonists Andy Sheppard & Wolfgang Puschnig and trumpeter.Lew Soloff. Carla's music was uniquely hers--regardless of the size of the ensemble, the sound was pure Carla. Her big ...
Continue ReadingThe Music of Carla Bley, Part 1: The Early Years
by Larry Slater
The Jazz world is full of highly original, creative musicians who forged their own unique paths. Carla Bley, who died on October 17, 2023, followed her own highly individual path as a composer, arranger and bandleader. As one critic commented, “No album by the legendary composer, pianist, and bandleader sounds like anyone else could have created it." One of the most creative spirits in jazz, Carla Bley's music spanned decades and included big band, small ensemble and duet ...
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