DOWNLOAD CARLA BLEY LAWNS PDF HOW TO
Gary Burton, who in 1967 was one of the first to dedicate an album to her music with A Genuine Tong Funeral, said of Bley: “I loved the compositional strength of her writing and found her to be fascinatingly eccentric.” Burton also commented on her activities as an entrepreneur of music business who founded the New Music Distribution Service, an important outlet for many contemporary artists at the early stage of their careers such as Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson and Sonic Youth to publish their music: “I have always considered Carla a great example of how to market music. The quirky side of her personality found its way into many compositions Bley wrote over her long and productive career. And more than anybody else, there is a whimsical and self-deprecating thread going through most of her music. Carla Bley’s composition style definitely has aspects of that, but she comes from a different, less schooled background and there is something more personal and intuitive in the music she writes. Don Ellis and Michael Gibbs come to mind, both influenced by the third stream sensibilities pioneered by Gunther Schuller in the late 50s.
The late 60s and early 70s saw a number of great band leaders taking jazz into a new direction for a large band, somewhat scaling down the format to 10-15 musicians and more importantly adding components of classical, avant-garde, theater and other styles, blending them into interesting and complex compositions.
Bley’s achievements as a composer and band leader have been documented well, and I recommend Amy Beal’s book Carla Bley. Musicians changed between these records, but the core group of Carla Bley, Steve Swallow (bass) and Michael Mantler (trumpet) and the high skill level of all musicians involved gave the band a uniform sound and feel.
In that period Bley worked with a consistent makeup of instrumentation, usually ten instruments consisting of brass (trumpet, trombone, tuba, french horn), reeds (alto and tenor saxophones), a rhythm section (piano, bass, drums) and herself doubling on piano and organ. In 1976 Bley started a run of records that showcased how great a marriage between a composer and a dedicated group of musicians can be. In particular, between 19 Carla Bley released a number of albums with her band that are some of my favorite jazz ensemble recordings. If someone asked to buy a pack of Luckies I said ‘wait till the solo is over’.” Thus started an amazing career of a jazz composer and performer as unique as they come in any style of music. I hardly sold anything because I was listening to the music. I sold cigarettes, stuffed animals, I was the one who took a picture of you and your girl friend at the table to commemorate your being there with someone who wasn’t your wife usually. She got to the Cafe Bohemia jazz club and watched Miles Davis with Paul Chambers, Philly Joe Jones and Red Garland: “I got a job at Birdland as a cigarette girl and that’s how I got my education. After listening to west coast cool jazz musicians like Gerry Mulligan and Chet Baker, she caught the jazz bug and was heading to the Mecca of jazz music. In the mid 1950s, while still in her teens, Carla Bley hitchhiked from Oakland, California to New York.
0 kommentar(er)
