When I saw you were going to write about one of my favorite composers, if not my single favorite, I was very excited. Usually I don't comment in here, especially through my phone (I hate typing on phones), but seeing her name made me eager. And this is how I found out about her death. I remember vividly first listening to Escalator over the Hill and being absolutely blown away by Charlie Haden and Gato Barbieri's solos in the end of "Hotel Overture", really sweating just from listening to that, and I'll never forget it.
Looks like you (almost) programmed my Carla Bley A-Trane tribute! (I have to squeeze in All-India-Radio and Musique Mechanique somewhere!) thanks! ... N
My introduction to Carla (and Monk) was her rendition of "Misterioso" on Hal Willner's '84 all-star Monk tribute album. Highly recommended and highly scarce. She was truly one of a kind.
Lawns, the live video with Steve Swallow, is the most erotic music video i know. Its beatifully obscene in its intimacy, with high romantic and sex voltage. Here:
Many Thanks! I've had a musical crush on Carla Bley since I discovered Dinner Music, which, in no time, led me to Escalator. I've got most of her stuff and many of the covers. She was a real unique artist and will be missed.
What an absolutely fabulous list. But, you know, you might even have chosen the whole list randomly and would likely not have had a bad piece. Carla leaves an impressive legacy. At the very top of my list of composers.
Like many here I came to Carla first in Escalator, probably drawn by the mix of Jack Bruce and John McLaughlin. It was such a stimulating change from what I had expected, and the compositions seemed to have a lot going on harmonically while cloaked in simplicity. And it also offered some challenging listening. OF course, I never did much to figure out the lyrical flow--the music was too consuming. In the many years past I have listened to much of what Ted recommends above, as well as time well spent on YouTube. "Lawns" is one of the personal favorites that has helped me survive a lot of anxious times.
From the Middle Ages to the French Revolution, music was one of the foundations of our
culture, indeed, of our very lives. The understanding of music was part of a general education. Today, music has become simply an ornament used to embellish idle evenings with trips
to the opera or to concerts, to evoke public festivity or even to banish or enliven the silence of
domestic loneliness with sounds from the radio. A paradox has emerged: quantitatively, we
have much more music today than ever before almost uninterrupted music, but it is no longer
very relevant to our lives. It has become simply a pretty adornment.
We find importance in other things than did the people of earlier times. How much strength
and suffering and love they squandered in constructing their temples and cathedrals, how
little they expended for the machinery of comfort and convenience! For people today, an
automobile or an airplane is more valuable than a violin, the circuitry of the computer's brain
more important than a symphony. We pay all too dearly for what we regard as comfortable
and essential, while we heedlessly discard the intensity of life in favor of the tinsel of creature
comforts and what we have once truly lost, we will never be able to regain'' - Nicolaus Harnoncourt
When I saw you were going to write about one of my favorite composers, if not my single favorite, I was very excited. Usually I don't comment in here, especially through my phone (I hate typing on phones), but seeing her name made me eager. And this is how I found out about her death. I remember vividly first listening to Escalator over the Hill and being absolutely blown away by Charlie Haden and Gato Barbieri's solos in the end of "Hotel Overture", really sweating just from listening to that, and I'll never forget it.
God bless her.
Boo to You Too!
Looks like you (almost) programmed my Carla Bley A-Trane tribute! (I have to squeeze in All-India-Radio and Musique Mechanique somewhere!) thanks! ... N
My introduction to Carla (and Monk) was her rendition of "Misterioso" on Hal Willner's '84 all-star Monk tribute album. Highly recommended and highly scarce. She was truly one of a kind.
Too bad nothing from Charlie Haden’s Dreamkeeper. How could such an important work be out of print? Any info?
Thanks!!!
Lawns, the live video with Steve Swallow, is the most erotic music video i know. Its beatifully obscene in its intimacy, with high romantic and sex voltage. Here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkBU5aM_6zM&pp=ygUKbGF3bnMgbGl2ZQ%3D%3D
I made a brief omage (in portuguese)
https://youtu.be/0oEUjFstA9Y?si=ld8XqkdXkjCiCXoU
This list, on Tidal:
https://tidal.com/playlist/76fdb50a-e791-4b73-9553-9ed02b8e55c2
I'd also include her collaberations with Robert Wyatt.
Many Thanks! I've had a musical crush on Carla Bley since I discovered Dinner Music, which, in no time, led me to Escalator. I've got most of her stuff and many of the covers. She was a real unique artist and will be missed.
The Bleys were early users of the Moog synthesizer . . . regret never having interacted with them.
What an absolutely fabulous list. But, you know, you might even have chosen the whole list randomly and would likely not have had a bad piece. Carla leaves an impressive legacy. At the very top of my list of composers.
Like many here I came to Carla first in Escalator, probably drawn by the mix of Jack Bruce and John McLaughlin. It was such a stimulating change from what I had expected, and the compositions seemed to have a lot going on harmonically while cloaked in simplicity. And it also offered some challenging listening. OF course, I never did much to figure out the lyrical flow--the music was too consuming. In the many years past I have listened to much of what Ted recommends above, as well as time well spent on YouTube. "Lawns" is one of the personal favorites that has helped me survive a lot of anxious times.
RIP ma'am....
oh man, i just KNEW you were going to include Dreams So Real from Gary Burton's Dreams so Real.....but no- oh well.........
This list, on Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/carla-bley/pl.u-GgA5olbsZV7WzV
''Music in Our Lives
From the Middle Ages to the French Revolution, music was one of the foundations of our
culture, indeed, of our very lives. The understanding of music was part of a general education. Today, music has become simply an ornament used to embellish idle evenings with trips
to the opera or to concerts, to evoke public festivity or even to banish or enliven the silence of
domestic loneliness with sounds from the radio. A paradox has emerged: quantitatively, we
have much more music today than ever before almost uninterrupted music, but it is no longer
very relevant to our lives. It has become simply a pretty adornment.
We find importance in other things than did the people of earlier times. How much strength
and suffering and love they squandered in constructing their temples and cathedrals, how
little they expended for the machinery of comfort and convenience! For people today, an
automobile or an airplane is more valuable than a violin, the circuitry of the computer's brain
more important than a symphony. We pay all too dearly for what we regard as comfortable
and essential, while we heedlessly discard the intensity of life in favor of the tinsel of creature
comforts and what we have once truly lost, we will never be able to regain'' - Nicolaus Harnoncourt