JSngry Posted October 18, 2023 Report Share Posted October 18, 2023 The Amy Beal book is a good read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Posted October 18, 2023 Report Share Posted October 18, 2023 6 hours ago, clifford_thornton said: WPI jazz history zoom -- definitely worth getting on the list for that. They play all kinds of unissued material (and some issued). https://www.jazzhistorydatabase.com/index.php Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medjuck Posted October 19, 2023 Report Share Posted October 19, 2023 6 hours ago, adh1907 said: The Quietus article posted earlier in this thread by TD ( which I found fascinating, thanks TD) goes into the Sun Ra/ Carla Bley conflict in some detail. Here it is again: https://thequietus.com/articles/29717-carla-bley-interview Anthony London Found this really interesting. I knew Michael Snow was on Elevator in the "Hotel Lobby Orchestra" or whatever it's called but didn't know he was that involved with her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gheorghe Posted October 19, 2023 Report Share Posted October 19, 2023 14 hours ago, adh1907 said: The Quietus article posted earlier in this thread by TD ( which I found fascinating, thanks TD) goes into the Sun Ra/ Carla Bley conflict in some detail. Here it is again: https://thequietus.com/articles/29717-carla-bley-interview Anthony London Very interesting article. Somehow, shame on me I never got acquainted to her music. I have Paul Bley as leader on the mentioned Hillcrest Club gig but as many others I had purchased it because of Ornette Coleman and Don Cherry. The next Paul Bley participation I have on Jimmy Giuffree live in Graz. But from the 60´s avantgarde it seems that I never got beyond Ornette, Don Cherry, Cecil Taylor, Pharoah Sanders and of course Sun Ra. The mentioned "Song for Che" is on an Ornette Coleman album "Crisis" on the Impulse label. Great music ! I think I heard one or two Carla Bley compositions but somehow it didn´t really reach me. Some friend who had the same musical tastes like me had a Carla Bley-Steve Swallow Duo CD that he had got for his wedding and we spinned it but I wouldn´t have bought it for my own use. I think it was quite nice, but without drums doesn´t really work for me...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster_Ties Posted October 19, 2023 Report Share Posted October 19, 2023 (edited) For years I had Carla’s appearance on Night Music, on a VHS I’d taped — and I always got a kick out of this collaboration with Bootsy Collins, among others. Opening is an interview with Bootsy, then the music starts around 3:30… Edited October 19, 2023 by Rooster_Ties Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HutchFan Posted October 19, 2023 Report Share Posted October 19, 2023 30 minutes ago, Rooster_Ties said: For years I had Carla’s appearance on Night Music, on a VHS I’d taped — and I always got a kick out of this collaboration with Bootsy Collins, among others. Opening is an interview with Bootsy, then the music starts around 3:30… Very nice. Thanks for sharing that, Rooster. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted October 19, 2023 Author Report Share Posted October 19, 2023 12 hours ago, medjuck said: Found this really interesting. I knew Michael Snow was on Elevator in the "Hotel Lobby Orchestra" or whatever it's called but didn't know he was that involved with her. yeah. The Walking Woman was modeled after her, from what I understand. I'm a huge fan of Snow. Her world and his actually line up pretty well in terms of linguistic/imagistic collage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted October 19, 2023 Report Share Posted October 19, 2023 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster_Ties Posted October 19, 2023 Report Share Posted October 19, 2023 (edited) A relatively recent interview (early 2021) with Carla, after she’d had surgery 3 years prior, which she mentions (related to the cancer that befell her). Her acerbic wit is entirely on display, and it’s (lovely? nice? reassuring? a relief?) to see her totally being herself through it all (to see that she maintained that wit). https://thequietus.com/articles/29717-carla-bley-interview Edited October 19, 2023 by Rooster_Ties Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjazzg Posted October 19, 2023 Report Share Posted October 19, 2023 50 minutes ago, Rooster_Ties said: A relatively recent interview (early 2021) with Carla, after she’d had surgery 3 years prior, which she mentions (related to the cancer that befell her). Her acerbic wit is entirely on display, and it’s (lovely? nice? reassuring? a relief?) to see her totally being herself through it all (to see that she maintained that wit). https://thequietus.com/articles/29717-carla-bley-interview That's been posted twice in the thread already, great read Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rostasi Posted October 19, 2023 Report Share Posted October 19, 2023 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GA Russell Posted October 19, 2023 Report Share Posted October 19, 2023 RIP. Legendary American Musician Dead At 87 (msn.com) Carla Bley, 1936-2023 Our good friend Carla Bley has died, aged 87, after a long illness. One of jazz’s great composers, she was a stubborn and witty individualist who heard and wrote and played things differently. “She works in many forms,” critic Nat Hentoff noted, “and her scores for big jazz bands are matched only by those of Duke Ellington and Charles Mingus for yearning lyricism, explosive exultation and other expressions of the human condition.” The large ensembles, remarkable as they were, were but part of the story. The originality of Carla’s writing was evident already in the early 1960s as musicians including Jimmy Giuffre, Paul Bley, Art Farmer, and George Russell began to play her pieces. Many of the tunes she wrote then have acquired the status of contemporary standards, among them “Jesus Maria,“Ictus," “Sing Me Softly of the Blues," “King Korn," “Vashkar," and more. “There are so many of them, each as well-crafted as pieces by Satie or Mompou—or Thelonious Monk for that matter,” as Manfred Eicher has observed. “Carla belongs in that tradition of radical originality.” The Jazz Composer’s Orchestra, of which Carla was a founder member, recorded her epic Escalator Over The Hill, described by down beat as “a masterpiece…maybe the most extensive and ambitious piece ever to come out of the jazz world.” In 1973 Carla and Michael Mantler launched the WATT label which would be the primary platform for her work in the 20th century, with formats ranging from duos with Steve Swallow to Very Big Band and idioms including Fancy Chamber Music, Christmas Music, Dinner Music, and the Dada-esque I Hate To Sing. Her arrangements for Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra graced The Ballad of the Fallen, a 1982 ECM session with luminous settings of songs associated the Spanish Civil War and with revolutionary movements in El Salvador, Chile and Portugal. Carla Bley’s last albums were the ECM recordings made at Lugano’s Auditorio RSI with the exceptional group with Andy Sheppard and Steve Swallow: Trios, Andando el Tiempo, and Life Goes On. As well as the group interaction, each of the recordings also emphasized the unique qualities of Bley’s pianism. Carla’s relationship with the instrument she had played since the age of four was sometimes troubled. “I would rather write music than perform it,“ she would often insist. “I’m at a disadvantage when I improvise since jazz solos are instant composition and I’m a slow and thoughtful composer. By the time I’ve thought of the next note, the chorus could easily be over.” Her admirers – count us in - waved away such protests. Any hesitations in the determined search for the good notes only added a touch of drama and Zen allure to the playing. In later years, Carla herself seemed to be reframing her reservations: “There’s nobody that plays like me — why would they?” she asked The New York Times. “So if I’ve had an influence, maybe it would be if they decided to play like themselves. In other words, the whole idea of not playing like anybody else is a way of playing.” She will be sorely missed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
optatio Posted October 20, 2023 Report Share Posted October 20, 2023 The Carla Bley Band. Berliner Jazztage 1979 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster_Ties Posted October 20, 2023 Report Share Posted October 20, 2023 6 hours ago, mjazzg said: That's been posted twice in the thread already, great read Oops, sorry about that. A friend sent me that link earlier today, and I hadn’t realized it had been posted here before (despite my having brought it up and searched on “Sun Ra” — but I hadn’t read the rest of it until I got the link in a txt-msg today). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fent99 Posted October 20, 2023 Report Share Posted October 20, 2023 (edited) Sad to read of this. One of my favourites and her work as a leader, arranger and composer spoke to me early in my discovery of jazz and still does. Only saw her once in trio with Andy Sheppard and Steve Swallow. So many great compositions for Paul Bley and the Jimmy Guiffre trio early on as well as her long catalogue of her own albums, always worth listening to. Ida Lupino is a tune I particularly love, and it will make me stop to listen to whoever plays it, forwards or backwards (as Oni Puladi). RIP Carla. https://www.jazziz.com/short-history-ida-lupino-carla-bley-1964/ https://youtu.be/DlEE2gATuQY?si=9GR8GGId1ygmCj3q Edited October 20, 2023 by fent99 Forgot to add link Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Farbey Posted October 20, 2023 Report Share Posted October 20, 2023 Obit in today's Guardian by John L. Walters... Carla Bley obituary - The Guardian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Al Posted October 21, 2023 Report Share Posted October 21, 2023 On 10/17/2023 at 1:57 PM, JSngry said: Damn. I was afraid that this was coming, but was hoping with all hope that it wasn't. One of the most original and individually insightful voices in my lifetime. RIP, and live forever. Do you remember your first BFT where you included "Rut"? I always loved that song and regret it took ten years to dig deeper into that. I now have Night-Glo, Heavy Heart, and Sextet and, while I understand these aren't anyone else's go-to or first choices, I really enjoy each one of them. They seem to embody her spirit well and it sounds like these were fun records to make. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted October 21, 2023 Report Share Posted October 21, 2023 Heavy Heart has carried on with me in a pretty deep way... It seemed to have a bit of a "pop" esthetic at first, but over the years I've come to realize that it's an adult breakup album, a final farewell to the Bley/Mantler marriage. As such, it can be a devastating listen. Gary Valente on "Ending It"...whoa... Oddly enough on that BFT, I coupled "Rut" with Marvin Gaye's "When Did You Stop Loving Me..." from Here, My Dear which imo is the definitive adult breakup record. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoppy T. Frog Posted October 22, 2023 Report Share Posted October 22, 2023 I like how in the 2020 video you can actually see Carla's eyes, I don't think I had ever! They were always covered by that trademark hair (wig?). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milestones Posted October 25, 2023 Report Share Posted October 25, 2023 (edited) Damn, I missed this entirely. I tend to agree that jazz greats (and Carla was one) often don't get the obit they deserve. I have not been checking out the obituaries. Rather, my first instinct has been to listen to some of her music. I became a big fan relatively late in my passion for jazz. But Carla Bley was someone to follow--the music creative, moving, humorous. The big band records are the most memorable, but I also really like the 4+4 octet album. She could work it in any size, including those duo and trio albums. Great collaborators and collaborations--Charlie Haden, Steve Swallow, Lew Soloff, Gary Valente. Great musicians have to die, but their music does not. R.I.P., Carla. Edited October 27, 2023 by Milestones Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted October 26, 2023 Report Share Posted October 26, 2023 On 10/22/2023 at 11:22 AM, Hoppy T. Frog said: I like how in the 2020 video you can actually see Carla's eyes, I don't think I had ever! I wonder if her ending that video by waving and saying good by was knowing or just coincidental. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rostasi Posted November 2, 2023 Report Share Posted November 2, 2023 Interview with Carla Bley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T.D. Posted November 2, 2023 Report Share Posted November 2, 2023 Thanks. Great interview I hadn't seen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gvopedz Posted November 30, 2023 Report Share Posted November 30, 2023 "I don't care if you like it or not!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
romualdo Posted November 30, 2023 Report Share Posted November 30, 2023 On 11/2/2023 at 3:17 PM, rostasi said: Interview with Carla Bley wonderful interview - thoroughly absorbing thanks rostasi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_forumlogo.png.a607ef20a6e0c299ab2aa6443aa1f32e.png)
.jpg.74a8b4abc7779f03e7e55653a1d9537d.thumb.jpg.a9eb0c1a66878897c11d43b00b49bdc0.jpg)
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.