― george gosset (gegoss), Monday, 11 August 2003 15:53 (twenty years ago) link
― charltonlido (gareth), Thursday, 19 May 2005 06:12 (eighteen years ago) link
― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Thursday, 19 May 2005 06:17 (eighteen years ago) link
― charltonlido (gareth), Thursday, 19 May 2005 06:54 (eighteen years ago) link
never did get this, but i did get dinner music
― 696, Tuesday, 12 June 2007 09:30 (sixteen years ago) link
What did you make of it (don't say "dinner")?
― Marcello Carlin, Tuesday, 12 June 2007 09:32 (sixteen years ago) link
only played the first track so far, it sounds very...slick, pastichey? it makes me think of Surrey, for some reason
― 696, Tuesday, 12 June 2007 09:48 (sixteen years ago) link
It comes across to me as a satire on fusion muzak which doesn't quite come off but "Dining Alone" is a great song and "Ida Lupino," featuring CB's Jonathan Richman-style saxophone playing, was obviously heard by Smokey Robinson (cf. brass harmonies here and vocal harmonies in the verses to "Being With You").
― Marcello Carlin, Tuesday, 12 June 2007 09:53 (sixteen years ago) link
have you seen the cover of the new emily haines album, marcello?
http://www.discogs.com/image/R-792756-1159304909.jpeg
― alex in mainhattan, Tuesday, 12 June 2007 12:32 (sixteen years ago) link
have you read the extensive review of the new emily haines album which i posted on my blog six months ago, alex?
― Marcello Carlin, Tuesday, 12 June 2007 12:32 (sixteen years ago) link
not yet. is it that old? anyways i always try to save the good things for later...
― alex in mainhattan, Tuesday, 12 June 2007 12:38 (sixteen years ago) link
shit, now i realise that i know that album. at least parts of it. i hadn't seen the cover though. this is a rare case where the internet made me focus on the music without being distracted by images.
― alex in mainhattan, Tuesday, 12 June 2007 12:48 (sixteen years ago) link
Actually I posted that review eight months ago - doesn't time fly etc.
Since this pathetic fucking retarded system won't let me link TO MY OWN BLOG go to CoM, look up Oct 2006 archives, why should I do all the work...
― Marcello Carlin, Tuesday, 12 June 2007 13:01 (sixteen years ago) link
sorry for the hiccup when (re)loading this thread. i guess that is the discogs website telling me that i shouldn't try to link to their album cover images...
maybe the system knows it is your site, marcello. and it doesn't allow shameless self-promotion. but i as a third party can link there. ;-)
― alex in mainhattan, Tuesday, 12 June 2007 13:22 (sixteen years ago) link
I fucking LOVE Carla Bley.
Faves are:-Escalator Over The Hill-Music Mechanique-her compositions on some of the early paul bley LPs (esp the "Closer" LP on ESP.)
Just listening to Escalator Over The Hill again today and it really smokes my bacon.
― ian, Wednesday, 11 February 2009 02:53 (fifteen years ago) link
EOTH is awesome, my favorite opening of a jazz album next to saint & the sinner lady
― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Wednesday, 11 February 2009 03:28 (fifteen years ago) link
I love Carla Bley
― kurt schwitterz, Thursday, 24 May 2018 18:14 (five years ago) link
She just turned 82
I just played a show with the guys from 0ingo B0ingo and Slugg0 told me Carla and Ann3tte Peac0ck hated each other back in the day
― kurt schwitterz, Thursday, 24 May 2018 18:15 (five years ago) link
Another heart-stopping thread revive.
― Poisoned by Johan's pea soup. (Tom D.), Thursday, 24 May 2018 18:16 (five years ago) link
Fuck you! S - Tropic Appetites, Dinner Music, Musique Mecanique and Social Studies. That Michael Mantler album with Robert Wyatt and Edward Gorey lyrics is off the hook too.
― kurt schwitterz, Thursday, 24 May 2018 18:19 (five years ago) link
... in the sense that I thought she was dead, you lunatic.
― Poisoned by Johan's pea soup. (Tom D.), Thursday, 24 May 2018 18:20 (five years ago) link
haha sorry. happy bday CB!
― kurt schwitterz, Thursday, 24 May 2018 18:21 (five years ago) link
I posted a Morricone song yesterday and ppl got mad cux they thought he was dead. I gotta calm down.
― kurt schwitterz, Thursday, 24 May 2018 18:22 (five years ago) link
just off to revive the Sonny Rollins thread:p
― calzino, Thursday, 24 May 2018 18:24 (five years ago) link
She did some awesome arrangements on Haden's The Ballad of The Fallen as well.
― calzino, Thursday, 24 May 2018 18:27 (five years ago) link
Gary Burton, "Genuine Tong Funeral"
― Poisoned by Johan's pea soup. (Tom D.), Thursday, 24 May 2018 18:28 (five years ago) link
Searching that out now
― kurt schwitterz, Thursday, 24 May 2018 18:29 (five years ago) link
I discovered Nick Mason's Fictitious Sports this year and it's up there with my favorites of hers.
― cwkiii, Thursday, 24 May 2018 18:33 (five years ago) link
Inspired by Downtown Music Gallery's enewsletter LP sale, I checked several listed albums featuring Bley, sale list and comments here: Rolling Jazz Thread 2018, little bit here too: Robert Wyatt: Classic or Dud?
Spotify has a bunch more.
― dow, Thursday, 24 May 2018 19:06 (five years ago) link
Or some more, at least.
― Poisoned by Johan's pea soup. (Tom D.), Thursday, 24 May 2018 18:28 (thirty-eight minutes ago) Permalink
Gary Burton Quartet's "Dreams So Real" as well
― chr1sb3singer, Thursday, 24 May 2018 19:10 (five years ago) link
such dedication to a hairdo.
― scott seward, Thursday, 24 May 2018 19:12 (five years ago) link
this is really good by the way. if you want something more current.
https://www.discogs.com/Carla-Bley-Andy-Sheppard-Steve-Swallow-Andando-El-Tiempo/master/1037191
― scott seward, Thursday, 24 May 2018 19:13 (five years ago) link
also best birth name: Lovella May Borg
― scott seward, Thursday, 24 May 2018 19:15 (five years ago) link
I get pathetically teary when I play Silence (off The Ballad of the Fallen), to me it's a profoundly sad and moving piece of music and it also makes me think of people who are gone for some reason. But anyway, basically Carla Bley is definitely classic and I should catch up on some of her newer stuff.
― calzino, Thursday, 24 May 2018 19:20 (five years ago) link
► Pre-order Carla Bley Trio: ‘Life Goes On’ and listen to the title track here: https://t.co/MRioVypy9p A striking album of new music from Carla Bley, whose trio with Andy Sheppard and Steve Swallow is now in its 25th year. pic.twitter.com/QNLqRjY2Y0— ECM Records (@ECMRecords) January 10, 2020
― calzino, Friday, 10 January 2020 11:35 (four years ago) link
https://ethaniverson.com/interview-with-carla-bley/
― And Then There’s Maudit (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 26 December 2020 13:39 (three years ago) link
great interview, thanks for postingthis is something, re: don cherry on escalator: CB: It was a miracle because he didn’t have any music. And even the words, when he says the syllables again and again and again, those were words from Escalator. Again it was one of the main songs, and he didn’t even know that. Everything was mystical like that with Don. He was from a different planet, definitely, god.
― brimstead, Saturday, 26 December 2020 18:50 (three years ago) link
really getting into Life Goes On now. i think it's just gorgeous.
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 14 April 2021 07:09 (two years ago) link
that interview with her posted just upthread is so fun! man what an awesome person she seems like.
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 14 April 2021 07:11 (two years ago) link
She’s a treasure.
― In on the killfile (Boring, Maryland), Wednesday, 14 April 2021 15:43 (two years ago) link
another new interview with TheQuietus up yesterday https://thequietus.com/articles/29717-carla-bley-interview
― Hmmmmm (jamiesummerz), Wednesday, 14 April 2021 15:53 (two years ago) link
still listen to her last album a lot, it was quite a timely move releasing Life Goes On just before all the lockdowns started.
― calzino, Wednesday, 14 April 2021 16:07 (two years ago) link
85 today, I think
― Working in the POLL Mine (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 11 May 2021 18:57 (two years ago) link
this is so cool. courtesy the algorithm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79vIUP78EsE
― budo jeru, Sunday, 25 December 2022 05:11 (one year ago) link
― Poisoned by Johan's pea soup. (Tom D.), Thursday, May 24, 2018 1:28 PM (four years ago) bookmarkflaglink
this is such an amazing record! i love her compositions.
― budo jeru, Sunday, 25 December 2022 05:13 (one year ago) link
another favorite composition, via igor S. one assumes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiydA9t8UZw
― budo jeru, Sunday, 25 December 2022 05:15 (one year ago) link
OMG WHAT AN INTERVIEW! Thanks and Merry Christmas yall!
― dow, Sunday, 25 December 2022 07:38 (one year ago) link
Oof bumping this scared me for a moment.
― Lord Pickles (Boring, Maryland), Sunday, 25 December 2022 13:30 (one year ago) link
The Lost Chords one with Paolo Fresu is another beauty.
― vodkaitamin effrtvescent (calzino), Tuesday, 17 October 2023 20:17 (five months ago) link
RIP Carla. Responsible for so much great, and diverse, music.
― The First Time Ever I Saw Gervais (Tom D.), Tuesday, 17 October 2023 20:25 (five months ago) link
Nick Mason's Fictitious Sports is one of my favorites albums ever. It's her album all but in name.
― deep wubs and tribral rhythms (Boring, Maryland), Tuesday, 17 October 2023 21:05 (five months ago) link
Really horrible news. R.I.P.
― you can see me from westbury white horse, Tuesday, 17 October 2023 21:38 (five months ago) link
I think in interviews she said Ellington was a freeriding parasite feeding off Strayhorn's talent. Not something I'd agree with - but still v funny!
― vodkaitamin effrtvescent (calzino), Tuesday, 17 October 2023 22:04 (five months ago) link
Which of her other records come closest to Escalator, Tropic Appetites and the Nick Mason album, in terms of being song-based and "rock-friendly"?
― Halfway there but for you, Tuesday, 17 October 2023 22:09 (five months ago) link
If Marcello still posted here he'd probably have a few answers, but Night-Glo but would probably be among them.
― vodkaitamin effrtvescent (calzino), Tuesday, 17 October 2023 22:16 (five months ago) link
I think it’s mostly Michael Mantler’s album but it think she had something to do with the Edward Gorey tribute The Hapless Child .
― deep wubs and tribral rhythms (Boring, Maryland), Tuesday, 17 October 2023 23:40 (five months ago) link
"After giving up the church to immerse herself in roller skating at the age of fourteen, she moved to New York at seventeen and became a cigarette girl at Birdland."
is this amazing origin story common knowledge?
― matcha man (outdoor_miner), Wednesday, 18 October 2023 00:11 (five months ago) link
her own recordings, her work with mantler, the haden collaborations (& yes ida lupino!) so much great music.
more a mantler joint than strictly bley though she's a big part of it, but maybe SILENCE (though not the biggest fan of it myself tbh)
― no lime tangier, Wednesday, 18 October 2023 08:26 (five months ago) link
RIP. Would also highly recommend A Genuine Tong Funeral by Gary Burton, where Carla wrote all the tunes and plays piano alongside an incredible band. V much a trial run for Escalator.
I saw her live once, playing with Charlie Haden and a late version of the Liberation Music Orchestra during Ornette Coleman's Meltdown Festival in London. It seemed significant that she was the only musician on the night who didn't take an extended solo - a sign of reticence, even then? Or a commitment to thinking always as a composer/arranger first and foremost?
― Ward Fowler, Wednesday, 18 October 2023 08:55 (five months ago) link
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 18 October 2023 12:43 (five months ago) link
Seconded.
― The First Time Ever I Saw Gervais (Tom D.), Wednesday, 18 October 2023 12:45 (five months ago) link
It's basically the opposite of song-based and rock-friendly, but my favorite Carla piece is 3/4, her relentless sidelong exploration of triple meter from the 1975 split LP with Michael Mantler's 13. Somehow it's never been released digitally (on CD or otherwise). Hopefully someone steps up to reissue, though original vinyl copies are still pretty cheap for now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fAJ3z293GA
― J. Sam, Wednesday, 18 October 2023 13:26 (five months ago) link
xp re: song-based stuff, check out the first (live) half of I Hate To Sing if you have a high tolerance for whimsy/goofiness.
― J. Sam, Wednesday, 18 October 2023 16:34 (five months ago) link
Time/Life, a tribute to Charlie Haden mostly made up of her compositions, with her arranging and on piano is absolutely beautiful and i hate it never got a vinyl release. In my top 5-10 ECM releases.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lj_Z2nhDlh4
― Hmmmmm (jamiesummerz), Wednesday, 18 October 2023 18:33 (five months ago) link
realised i'm a dummy and its not actually an ECM release! feels like it should be?
Regarding 3/4, while working on the archive for Glasgow arts space the Third Eye Centre (now the CCA), I came across a copy of the reduced score alongside a letter from Bley on JCOA headed paper. One of those amazing moments in a researcher's career when you stumble across gold. From the letter, it seems that there were plans to perform the piece in Glasgow with Scottish musicians, but it never came to fruition - mostly likely the usual logistics and funding. Bley's humour really comes across in the letter. She had visited the Third Eye in 1975 when touring with Jack Bruce, but didn't play Glasgow as leader until 1992. Photos here:https://thirdeyejazz.blogspot.com/2021/09/the-third-eye-carla-bley-connection.html
― Composition 40b (Stew), Thursday, 19 October 2023 11:49 (five months ago) link
wow
― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 19 October 2023 11:53 (five months ago) link
*applause*
― The First Time Ever I Saw Gervais (Tom D.), Thursday, 19 October 2023 12:29 (five months ago) link
Nice one Stew. Now where can I get some of that JCOA stationery...
― Ward Fowler, Thursday, 19 October 2023 12:31 (five months ago) link
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HgaUYa9wwcA/YUnuA7UOkYI/AAAAAAAACX8/Y7GDd4-3YcgfCWmQ_gxjjyJxdC6_NMj7ACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/carla%2Bbley%2Bpipe.jpg
When the kush hits
― J. Sam, Thursday, 19 October 2023 19:43 (five months ago) link
RIP to a giant. i discovered carla bley via emily haines of metric; the artwork of her heartbreaking solo piano album 'knives don't have your back' is a homage to 'escalator over the hill', one of the most mystifying records in the world, to which her father paul haines (magic jazz poet who WROTE IN ALL CAPS ALWAYS) wrote the libretto. <3
― maelin, Thursday, 19 October 2023 19:55 (five months ago) link
Marcello Carlin, writing for Stylus Magazine, considers the album to be "the greatest record ever made." He said: "No protest, no social commentary. No expression of love, of grief, of hope, of despair. It is literally whatever you want to make of it. It is devoid of every quality which you might assume would qualify it to be the greatest of all records. And yet it is that tabula rasa in its heart, the blank space which may well exist at the very heart of all music, revealing the hard truth that we have to fill in the blanks, we have to interpret what is being played and sung, and our interpretation is the only one which can possibly be valid, as we cannot discern any perspective other than our own.
― maelin, Thursday, 19 October 2023 19:56 (five months ago) link
Dave Douglas/Riverside also did a Carla Bley tribute album with 3 of her compositions in 2017.
― EvR, Monday, 23 October 2023 15:36 (five months ago) link