Carla Bley  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

Related e

Wikipedia Wiktionary Shop Featured: Rhombicuboctahedron by Leonardo da Vinci

Carla Bley (1936 – 2023) was an American composer, pianist, organist, and bandleader mainly working in jazz. An important figure in the free jazz movement of the 1960s, she was perhaps best known for her jazz opera Escalator over the Hill (1971), as well as a book of compositions that have been performed by many other artists.

She was a pioneer in the development of independent artist-owned record labels who recorded over two dozen albums between 1966 and 2019.

Albums

As leader

• 1974: Tropic Appetites (WATT)
• 1977: Dinner Music (WATT)
• 1978: European Tour 1977 (WATT)
• 1979: Musique Mecanique (WATT)
• 1981: Social Studies (WATT)
• 1982: Live! (WATT)
• 1983: Mortelle Randonnée (Mercury) – Soundtrack
• 1984: I Hate to Sing (WATT)
• 1984: Heavy Heart (WATT)
• 1985: Night-Glo (WATT) with Steve Swallow
• 1987: Sextet (WATT)
• 1988: Duets (WATT) with Steve Swallow
• 1989: Fleur Carnivore (WATT)
• 1991: The Very Big Carla Bley Band (WATT)
• 1992: Go Together (WATT) with Steve Swallow
• 1993: Big Band Theory (WATT)
• 1994: Songs with Legs (WATT) with Andy Sheppard and Steve Swallow
• 1996: The Carla Bley Big Band Goes to Church (WATT)
• 1998: Fancy Chamber Music (WATT)
• 1999: Are We There Yet? (WATT) with Steve Swallow
• 2000: 4 x 4 (WATT)
• 2003: Looking for America (WATT)
• 2004: The Lost Chords (WATT)
• 2007: The Lost Chords find Paolo Fresu (WATT)
• 2008: Appearing Nightly (WATT)
• 2009: Carla's Christmas Carols (WATT)
• 2013: Trios (ECM) with Andy Sheppard and Steve Swallow
• 2015: Andando el Tiempo (ECM) with Andy Sheppard and Steve Swallow
• 2020: Life Goes On (ECM) with Andy Sheppard and Steve Swallow

Collaborations

With Gary Burton

• 1967: A Genuine Tong Funeral (RCA)

With the Jazz Composer's Orchestra

• 1966: Communication (Fontana) Jazz Composer's Orchestra
• 1968: The Jazz Composer's Orchestra (JCOA) (led by Michael Mantler)
• 1968-71: Escalator over the Hill (JCOA) (a chronotransduction by Carla Bley & Paul Haines)
• 1973: Relativity Suite (JCOA) (led by Don Cherry)
• 1975: The Gardens of Harlem (JCOA) (led by Clifford Thornton)
• 1975: Echoes of Prayer (JCOA) (led by Grachan Moncur III)

With Michael Mantler

• 1966: Jazz Realities (Fontana) (with Steve Lacy)
• 1973: No Answer (WATT) (with Jack Bruce & Don Cherry – texts by Samuel Beckett)
• 1975: 13 & ¾ (WATT)
• 1976: The Hapless Child (WATT) (texts by Edward Gorey)
• 1976: Silence (WATT) (texts by Harold Pinter)
• 1977: Movies (WATT)
• 1980: More Movies (WATT)
• 1982: Something There (WATT)

With Charlie Haden and the Liberation Music Orchestra

• 1969: Liberation Music Orchestra (Impulse!)
• 1983: The Ballad of the Fallen (ECM)
• 1990: Dream Keeper (Blue Note)
• 2005: Not in Our Name (Verve)
• 2016: Time/Life (Impulse!)

With Nick Mason

• 1979: Nick Mason's Fictitious Sports (Harvest) (released in 1981)

With Steve Swallow

• 1986-7: Carla
• 1992: Swallow
• 2013: Into the Woodwork

As sidewoman

• 1975: Jack Bruce – The Jack Bruce Band Live '75 (released 2003)
• 1975: Jack Bruce – Live on the Old Grey Whistle Test (released 1998)
• 1977: John Greaves – Kew. Rhone.
• 1981: Amarcord Nino Rota (Hannibal) — various artists tribute to Nino Rota (performs "8½")
• 1984: That's the Way I Feel Now (A&M) — various artists tribute to Thelonious Monk (performs "Misterioso")
• 1985: Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill — various artists tribute to Kurt Weill (performs "Lost in the Stars")
• 1971-85: Gary Windo – His Master's Bones
• 1985: The Golden Palominos – Visions of Excess
• 1991: The Golden Palominos – Drunk with Passion
• 1995: Jazz to the World — various artists (performs "Let It Snow")

Videography

• 1983/2003: Live in Montreal (DVD)