![]() ![]() So not only does it have to be all perfect by the time it leaves your brain, but it has to be given to the right people. They will hear it slightly differently and put something in there. Also, if I write something for my favorite soloist, the way they play the melody will be different than expected. But before I give a piece to a group, sometimes Steve and I will play it together, and at that moment, often something will change. And that’s something that I can’t really figure out. Sometimes Steve Swallow gets a hold of the bass line and changes it. MW: I was just listening to a radio program about Johnny Mercer, who said a composition teacher of his told him the most important thing was to know in depth how notes on paper would be translated into sound by the band.ĬB: Yes, that’s fundamental. ![]() Like in the old days, the arrangers who had three days or maybe even less to write an arrangement. I often think about people who have deadlines. Usually I can get it right without hearing it, but there might be some little things that need to be changed. Once it’s played, that’s something else again. MW: How often do all those stars come into alignment for you?ĬB: Before the piece can be called finished, they all have to come into alignment. It has to have a great title, be the right length, it has to come at a time in your life when it isn’t too difficult to write it. Every note has to be in the right place with the right pitch. Matt Weiers: What are the most important aspects of music for you? What does your music have to have in order for you to be satisfied with it?Ĭarla Bley: All the aspects have to be good. The information for Carla Bley’s introduction came from her entry in Wikipedia. ![]() Carla Bley was interviewed by Matt Weiers, who has conducted exclusive interviews in Allegro with Toshiko Akiyoshi, Fred Hersch, Kenny Garrett, Jane Ira Bloom, Geri Allen and Marian McPartland. In 2005 she arranged the music for and performed on Charlie Haden‘s latest Liberation Music Orchestra tour and recording, “Not In Our Name.”Ĭarla Bley has been a member of Local 802 since 1965. (Another live performance took place last year in Essen, Germany.) In 1998, she toured “Escalator” in Europe. In 1997, a live version of “Escalator Over The Hill” was performed for the first time in Cologne, Germany. ![]() Her partner, the bassist Steve Swallow, has been her closest and most consistent musical associate in recent years. Her arrangement of the music for Federico Fellini‘s “8 1❂” appeared on Hal Willner‘s Nino Rota tribute record, “Amarcord Nino Rota.”Ĭarla Bley has continued to record frequently with her own big band and a number of smaller ensembles. She arranged and composed music for Charlie Haden‘s Liberation Music Orchestra, and wrote “A Genuine Tong Funeral” for Gary Burton. She has collaborated with a number of other artists, including Robert Wyatt and Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason. With Michael Mantler, she started the JCOA record label which issued a number of historic recordings by Clifford Thornton, Don Cherry and Roswell Rudd, as well as her own “Escalator Over The Hill” and Mantler’s “Jazz Composer’s Orchestra” LP’s.īley and Mantler followed with WATT records, which has issued their recordings exclusively from the early 1970’s onward.īley 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. In 1964 she was involved in organizing the Jazz Composers Guild which brought together the most innovative musicians in New York at the time. An important figure in the free jazz movement of the 1960’s, composer, pianist, organist and bandleader Carla Bley 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, Jimmy Giuffre, George Russell, Art Farmer and her ex-husband Paul Bley. ![]()
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