Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Carla Bley Big Band: Appearing Nightly

404

Carla Bley Big Band: Appearing Nightly

By

View read count
Carla Bley Big Band: Appearing Nightly
Appearing Nightly conflates four of the most delightful things in the world—being in a jazz club with white tablecloths and a martini listening to live music played but a few feet away, a big band cooking on stage, the music being played harkening back to jazz of the 1950s, and finally that music refracted through the mind of the inimitable pianist and composer Carla Bley.

Anyone who was lucky enough to hear some of this music in a quartet setting at Bley's Song With Legs gig at Birdland in New York City in April, 2008 should find the full-length live version an intriguing listen. The genesis of the music involves the intersection of Bley's early years breathing in (literally) the atmosphere of jazz in New York City in the 1950s with a commission from the 2005 Monterey Jazz Festival and another commission from the Orchestra Jazz della Sardegna.

Bley's music for the Monterey commission, entitled "Appearing Nightly At The Black Orchid," included memories of a (very short) solo piano gig at a Monterey club called "The Black Orchid," with four sections whose titles echo that event—"40 On / 20 Off," "Second Round," "What Would You Like To Hear?" and "Last Call." This twenty-five minute piece has all of Bley's hallmarks, as a composer and specifically as a composer for a big band. While the seventeen piece orchestra is structured normally, it sounds nothing like Duke Ellington, Count Basie or anyone from the "classic" era Bley loves, nor does it come anywhere near the Maria Schneider "orchestral" sound.

Instead, the music is a unique and very effective mixture of complex arrangements with shifting tempi and sounds, handled with ease by a superb group of musicians and with more than enough room for terrific solos. It pays homage to the earlier big bands by burning with their spirit, while being filtered through Bley's quirky and serious humor, making for a piece in which it is very easy to get lost.

The Sardegna commission was to be played at a festival called Dinner Music and was supposed to be related somehow to food. These two pieces, "Greasy Gravy" and "Awful Coffee," start the album, the former slithering with a very sexy rhythm (and a "Pretty Baby" quote) and the latter burning hard and tightly with many quotes from standards that have food titles.

The audience loved every second of this wonderful set, applauding not only for the solos but also for the ensemble sections. Bley has surely succeeded in musically incarnating her past and her love of that music with her ever-present wit and high spirits.

Track Listing

Greasy Gravy; Awful Coffee; Appearing Nightly at the Black Orchid: 40 On/20 Off, Second Round, What Would You Like to Hear?, Last Call; Someone to Watch; I Hadn't Anyone 'Till You.

Personnel

Earl Gardner: trumpet; Lew Soloff: trumpet; Giampaolo Casati: trumpet; Florian Esch: trumpet; Beppe Calamosca: trombone; Gary Valente: trombone; Gigi Grata: trombone; Richard Henry: trombone; Roger Jannotta: soprano and alto saxophone, flute; Wolfgang Puschnig: alto saxophone, flute; Andy Sheppard: tenor saxophone; Christophe Panzani: tenor saxophone; Julian Arguelles: baritone saxophone; Carla Bley: piano, conductor; Karen Mantler: organ; Steve Swallow: bass; Billy Drummond: drums.

Album information

Title: Appearing Nightly | Year Released: 2008 | Record Label: ECM Records

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Eternal Moments
Yoko Yates
From "The Hellhole"
Marshall Crenshaw
Tramonto
John Taylor

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.