Carla Bley (born Lovella May Borg; May 11, 1936) is an American
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
composer, pianist, organist and bandleader.
An important figure in the
free jazz
Free jazz is an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians during ...
movement of the 1960s, she is perhaps best known for her jazz opera ''
Escalator over the Hill'' (released as a triple LP set), as well as a book of compositions that have been performed by many other artists, including
Gary Burton
Gary Burton (born January 23, 1943) is an American jazz vibraphonist, composer, and educator. Burton developed a pianistic style of four-mallet technique as an alternative to the prevailing two-mallet technique. This approach caused him to be he ...
,
Jimmy Giuffre
James Peter Giuffre (, ; April 26, 1921 – April 24, 2008) was an American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, composer, and arranger. He is known for developing forms of jazz which allowed for free interplay between the musicians, anticipating f ...
,
George Russell,
Art Farmer
Arthur Stewart Farmer (August 21, 1928 – October 4, 1999) was an American jazz trumpeter and flugelhorn player. He also played flumpet, a trumpet–flugelhorn combination especially designed for him. He and his identical twin brother, double ...
,
John Scofield
John Scofield (born December 26, 1951), sometimes referred to as "Sco", is an American guitarist and composer whose music over a long career has blended jazz, jazz fusion, funk, blues, soul and rock. He first came to mainstream attention in the ...
and her ex-husband
Paul Bley
Paul Bley, CM (November 10, 1932 – January 3, 2016) was a jazz pianist known for his contributions to the free jazz movement of the 1960s as well as his innovations and influence on trio playing and his early live performance on the Moog and ...
.
Early life
![Carla Bley KK](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/Carla_Bley_KK.jpg)
Bley was born in
Oakland, California
Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...
, United States, to Emil Borg (1899–1990), a piano teacher and church choirmaster,
who encouraged her to sing and to learn to play the piano, and Arline Anderson (1907–1944), who died when Bley was eight years old. After giving up the church to immerse herself in
roller skating
Roller skating is the act of traveling on surfaces with roller skates. It is a recreational activity, a sport, and a form of transportation. Roller rinks and skate parks are built for roller skating, though it also takes place on streets, sid ...
at the age of fourteen,
Ben Sidran
Ben Hirsh Sidran (born August 14, 1943) is an American jazz and rock keyboardist, producer, label owner, and music writer. Early in his career he was a member of the Steve Miller Band and is the father of Grammy-nominated musician, composer and ...
, ''Talking Jazz: An Illustrated Oral History'', Pomegranate Artbooks, 1992 she moved to
New York at seventeen and became a
cigarette girl
In Europe and the United States, a cigarette girl is a person who sells or provides cigarettes from a tray held by a neck strap. They may also carry cigars and other items like candy, snacks, and chewing gum on their trays.
Uniform
The most ...
at
Birdland, where she met jazz pianist
Paul Bley
Paul Bley, CM (November 10, 1932 – January 3, 2016) was a jazz pianist known for his contributions to the free jazz movement of the 1960s as well as his innovations and influence on trio playing and his early live performance on the Moog and ...
. She toured with him under the name Karen Borg, before she changed her name in 1957 to Carla Borg and married Paul Bley the same year adopting the Bley name.
[Philippe Carles, André Clergeat, and Jean-Louis Comolli, ''Dictionnaire du jazz'', Paris, 1994] He encouraged her to start composing.
The couple divorced in 1967, but she kept his surname professionally.
Later life and career
![Carla Bley Pori Jazz 1978](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Carla_Bley_Pori_Jazz_1978.jpg)
A number of musicians began to record Bley's compositions:
George Russell recorded "Bent Eagle" for his album ''
Stratusphunk
''Stratusphunk'' is an album by George Russell originally released on Riverside in January 1961. The album contains performances by Russell with Al Kiger, David Baker, Dave Young, Chuck Israels and Joe Hunt.
Reception
The Allmusic review by S ...
'' in 1960; Jimmy Giuffre recorded "Ictus" on his album ''
Thesis
A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: ...
''; and Paul Bley's ''
Barrage'' consisted entirely of her compositions. Throughout her career, Bley has thought of herself as a writer first, describing herself as 99 percent composer and one percent pianist.
[Review of Andando el Tiempo (2017)](_blank)
''The Irish Times
''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...
'' June 2, 2016
In 1964, she was involved in organising the
Jazz Composers Guild,
which brought together the most innovative musicians in New York at the time.
She then had a personal and professional relationship with
Michael Mantler
Michael Mantler (born August 10, 1943) is an Austrian avant-garde jazz trumpeter and composer of contemporary music.
Career: United States
Mantler was born in Vienna, Austria. In the early 1960s, he was a student at the Academy of Music and V ...
, with whom she had a daughter,
Karen Mantler
Karen Mantler (born 25 April 1966, in New York City, New York (state), New York, United States) is an American jazz pianist, singer, and composer. She is the daughter of Carla Bley and Michael Mantler.
Career
Her musical debut consisted of contri ...
, now also a musician in her own right. Bley and Mantler were married from 1965-91. With Mantler, she co-led the
Jazz Composers' Orchestra and started the JCOA record label which issued a number of historic recordings by
Clifford Thornton
Clifford Edward Thornton III (September 6, 1936 – November 25, 1989) was an American jazz trumpeter, trombonist, activist, and educator. He played free jazz and avant-garde jazz in the 1960s and '70s.
Career
Clifford was born in Philadelphia. ...
,
Don Cherry
Donald Stewart Cherry (born February 5, 1934) is a Canadian former ice hockey player, coach, and television commentator. Cherry played one game in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Boston Bruins, and later coached the team for five se ...
and
Roswell Rudd
Roswell Hopkins Rudd Jr. (November 17, 1935 – December 21, 2017) was an American jazz trombonist and composer.
Although skilled in a variety of genres of jazz (including Dixieland, which he performed while in college), and other genres of musi ...
, as well as her own
magnum opus
A masterpiece, ''magnum opus'' (), or ''chef-d’œuvre'' (; ; ) in modern use is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, ...
''
Escalator Over The Hill'' and Mantler's ''
The Jazz Composer's Orchestra'' LPs.
Bley and Mantler were pioneers in the development of independent artist-owned record labels and also started the now defunct
New Music Distribution Service which specialized in small, independent labels that issued recordings of "creative improvised music".
She arranged and composed music for bassist
Charlie Haden
Charles Edward Haden (August 6, 1937 – July 11, 2014) was an American jazz double bass player, bandleader, composer and educator whose career spanned more than 50 years. In the late 1950s, he was an original member of the ground-breaking ...
's
Liberation Music Orchestra
Charles Edward Haden (August 6, 1937 – July 11, 2014) was an American jazz double bass player, bandleader, composer and educator whose career spanned more than 50 years. In the late 1950s, he was an original member of the ground-breaking ...
, and wrote ''
A Genuine Tong Funeral'' for vibraphonist
Gary Burton
Gary Burton (born January 23, 1943) is an American jazz vibraphonist, composer, and educator. Burton developed a pianistic style of four-mallet technique as an alternative to the prevailing two-mallet technique. This approach caused him to be he ...
. Bley has collaborated with a number of other artists, including
Jack Bruce
John Symon Asher Bruce (14 May 1943 – 25 October 2014) was a Scottish bassist, singer-songwriter, musician and composer. He gained popularity as the primary lead vocalist and bassist of British rock band Cream. After the group disband ...
,
Robert Wyatt
Robert Wyatt (born Robert Wyatt-Ellidge, 28 January 1945) is a retired English musician. A founding member of the influential Canterbury scene bands Soft Machine and Matching Mole, he was initially a kit drummer and singer before becoming para ...
and
Nick Mason, drummer for the rock group
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...
. Mason's solo debut album ''
Nick Mason's Fictitious Sports
''Nick Mason's Fictitious Sports'' is the debut solo album by Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason, released in May 1981 in the UK and the US. It was Mason's first major work outside of Pink Floyd. It is sung by Robert Wyatt (formerly of Soft Machine), ...
'' was entirely written by Bley and performed by her regular band with Mason as a guest, making it in effect a Carla Bley album in all but name.
She has continued to record frequently with her own
big band
A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s an ...
, which has included
Blood, Sweat & Tears
Blood, Sweat & Tears (also known as "BS&T") is a jazz rock music group founded in New York City in 1967, noted for a combination of brass with rock instrumentation. In addition to original music, the group has performed popular songs by Laura Ny ...
' notable
Lew Soloff
Lewis Michael Soloff (February 20, 1944–March 8, 2015) was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and actor.
Biography
From his birth place of New York City, United States, he studied trumpet at the Eastman School of Music and the Juilliard Sc ...
, and a number of smaller ensembles, notably the Lost Chords. Her partner is the bassist
Steve Swallow
Steve Swallow (born October 4, 1940) is an American jazz bassist and composer, known for his collaborations with Jimmy Giuffre, Gary Burton, and Carla Bley. He was one of the first jazz double bassists to switch entirely to electric bass guitar. ...
.
In 2005, she arranged the music for and performed on
Charlie Haden
Charles Edward Haden (August 6, 1937 – July 11, 2014) was an American jazz double bass player, bandleader, composer and educator whose career spanned more than 50 years. In the late 1950s, he was an original member of the ground-breaking ...
's latest Liberation Music Orchestra tour and recording, ''
Not in Our Name
Not in Our Name (NION) was a United States organization founded on March 23, 2002 to protest the U.S. government's course in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks; it disbanded on March 31, 2008.
Two key documents
Early in their existence ...
''. She lives in
Woodstock, New York
Woodstock is a town in Ulster County, New York, United States, in the northern part of the county, northwest of Kingston, NY. It lies within the borders of the Catskill Park. The population was 5,884 at the 2010 census, down from 6,241 in 2000 ...
.
Awards
Bley was awarded a
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...
in 1972 for music composition.
In 2009, she was awarded the German Jazz Trophy "A Life for Jazz".
Bley received the
NEA Jazz Masters
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), every year honors up to seven jazz musicians with Jazz Master Awards. The National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Fellowships are the self-proclaimed highest honors that the United States bestows upon ...
Award in 2015.
Discography
References
External links
*
EJN: Carla BleyCarla Bley and Steve Swallow video interview about ''Dreams So Real'' and working with ECM RecordsCarla Bley in conversation with Frank J. OteriWatt/XtraWatt music label*
*
Carla Bleyat
All About Jazz
''All About Jazz'' is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, ''Jazz Near ...
Carla Bley interview at All About Jazz
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bley, Carla
1938 births
20th-century American composers
20th-century American keyboardists
20th-century American pianists
20th-century American women pianists
20th-century jazz composers
20th-century organists
20th-century women composers
21st-century American composers
21st-century American keyboardists
21st-century American pianists
21st-century American women pianists
21st-century jazz composers
21st-century organists
21st-century women composers
American jazz bandleaders
American jazz composers
American jazz organists
American jazz pianists
American opera composers
American women composers
American women jazz musicians
Big band bandleaders
ECM Records artists
Jazz musicians from California
Jazz musicians from New York (state)
Living people
Musicians from Oakland, California
People from Woodstock, New York
Post-bop composers
Post-bop pianists
Progressive big band musicians
The Golden Palominos members
Women jazz composers
Women jazz pianists
Women opera composers
Women organists