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Carla Bley (born Lovella May Borg; May 11, 1936) is an American
Bley was born in
A number of musicians began to record Bley's compositions: George Russell recorded "Bent Eagle" for his album '' Stratusphunk'' in 1960; Jimmy Giuffre recorded "Ictus" on his album ''
''
EJN: Carla Bley
Carla Bley and Steve Swallow video interview about ''Dreams So Real'' and working with ECM Records
Carla Bley in conversation with Frank J. Oteri
Watt/XtraWatt music label
* *
Carla Bley
at
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
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 m ...
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 duri ...
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 h ...
, 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, doub ...
, 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 th ...
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
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 port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the ...
, 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 an ...
, ''Talking Jazz: An Illustrated Oral History'', Pomegranate Artbooks, 1992 she moved to New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
at seventeen and became a cigarette girl 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
A number of musicians began to record Bley's compositions: George Russell recorded "Bent Eagle" for his album '' Stratusphunk'' 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)''
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, with whom she had a daughter, Karen Mantler
Karen Mantler (born 25 April 1966, in New York City, 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 contributing vocals on ...
, 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 and Roswell Rudd, as well as her own magnum opus '' 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
''A Genuine Tong Funeral'' is an album by vibraphonist Gary Burton featuring compositions by Carla Bley recorded in 1967 and released on the RCA label in 1968.
'' 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 h ...
. 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 pa ...
and Nick Mason
Nicholas Berkeley Mason, (born 27 January 1944) is an English drummer and a founder member of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. He is the only member to feature on every Pink Floyd album, and the only constant member since its formation i ...
, 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 groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philosophical lyrics an ...
. Mason's solo debut album '' Nick Mason's Fictitious Sports'' 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 ...
, 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 N ...
' 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 20 ...
.
Awards
Bley was awarded aGuggenheim 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 art ...
in 1972 for music composition.
In 2009, she was awarded the German Jazz Trophy "A Life for Jazz".
Bley received the NEA Jazz Masters Award in 2015.
Discography
References
External links
*EJN: Carla Bley
Carla Bley and Steve Swallow video interview about ''Dreams So Real'' and working with ECM Records
Carla Bley in conversation with Frank J. Oteri
Watt/XtraWatt music label
* *
Carla Bley
at
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