Jazz Articles about Carla Bley

About Carla Bley

Album Review

Carla Bley - Andy Sheppard - Steve Swallow: Trios

by Luigi Sforza
February 20, 2014

Trios--ultima produzione dello strepitoso trio composto da Carla Bley, Andy Sheppard e Steve Swallow--è uno di quei progetti musicali felicemente riusciti, in cui l'assoluta spontaneità espressiva dell'atto creativo lascia magicamente traccia di sé negli esiti. Questa produzione ECM è intellettualmente stimolante, possiede un suggestivo potere incantatorio e sprigiona una decisa, sana e positiva energia a bassa intensità. Senza manierismi, Trios è un progetto dalla visione prodigiosamente ampia. Il disco concentra in sé libere associazioni, rifrazioni mozzafiato, ...

Album Review

Carla Bley / Andy Sheppard / Steve Swallow: Trios

by Sammy Stein
September 19, 2013

In Lugano, Switzerland in 2012, pianist Carla Bley, saxophonist Andy Sheppard and bassist Steve Swallow were recorded, and the result is Trios (EMC 2013). This CD is atmospheric and energised. Included are new versions of Bley's original “Utviklingssang" ( “Development Song"), “Vashkar" and the suites “Les Trois Lagons" , “Wildlife," and “The Girl Who Cried Champagne." It marks Bley's departure from the ECM distributed WATT label which has been her platform for the past 40 years, and her first recording ...

Album Review

Carla Bley / Andy Sheppard / Steve Swallow: Trios

by John Kelman
September 13, 2013

In a career more defined by memorable compositions than instrumental acumen, it's easy to forget that Carla Bley may not be the most virtuosic pianist on the planet, but she's a far more than capable one, as evidenced on duo recordings like Are We There Yet? (Watt, 1999), with life partner/bassist Steve Swallow, and Songs With Legs (WATT, 1995), a trio date with longtime collaborator, saxophonist Andy Sheppard--also heard in Bley's larger ensemble of Appearing Nightly (Watt/ECM, 2008) and quartet ...

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Book Review

Amy C. Beal: Carla Bley

by Chris May
December 4, 2011

Carla Bley Amy C. Beal Softcover, 114 pages University of Illinois Press ISBN: 9780252078187 2011 Remarkably, this is the first detailed, published study of the career and music of Carla Bley, the distinguished composer, keyboardist, band leader and activist. It is the seventh volume in the University of Illinois' American Composers series, following studies of Lou Harrison, John Cage, Dudley Buck, William Grant Still, Rudolf Friml and Elliott Carter. ...

Album Review

Carla Bley: Carla's Christmas Carols

Read "Carla's Christmas Carols" reviewed by AAJ Italy Staff

by AAJ Italy Staff
March 24, 2010

Nella sua bella maturità Carla Bley ha forse perso qualcosa dell'asprigna e acidula irriverente secchezza che contraddistingueva i suoi lavori più originali, ma ha certamente acquistato una capacità di scrittura che sa riflettere con arguzia la sua raffinatezza in ambito armonico e la sua sottigliezza in campo ritmico. E' tradizione musicale anglosassone che, in prossimità del Natale, strumentisti e cantanti più o meno di fama rendano il loro omaggio alle festività: in questa affascinante incisione (parte in studio e parte ...

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Album Review

Carla Bley: Carla's Christmas Carols

Read "Carla's Christmas Carols" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
October 27, 2009

Carla's Christmas Carols? For many, the idea of their favorite jazz artist releasing an album of seasonal songs usually smells of crass commercialism or pure pandering, but leave it to pianist/composer/arranger Carla Bley to produce an album that's as reverentially in the spirit of the season as it gets, while being musically deep enough to fit within her substantial discography with complete relevance. And it is reverential. Accompanied by longtime partner, bassist Steve Swallow, and the German Partyka ...

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Album Review

Carla Bley Big Band: Appearing Nightly

Read "Appearing Nightly" reviewed by Budd Kopman

by Budd Kopman
September 10, 2008

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 ...