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Carla Bley (born Lovella May Borg; May 11, 1936 – October 17, 2023) was an American jazz composer, pianist, organist, and bandleader. An important figure in the free jazz movement of the 1960s, she gained acclaim 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, Robert Wyatt, John Scofield, and her ex-husband Paul Bley. She was a pioneer in the development of independent artist-owned record labels, and recorded over two dozen albums between 1966 and 2019.
Bley arranged and composed music for bassist Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra, and wrote A Genuine Tong Funeral for vibraphonist Gary Burton. Bley collaborated with a number of other artists, including Jack Bruce, Robert Wyatt, and Nick Mason, drummer for the rock group Pink Floyd. Mason's solo debut album Nick Mason's Fictitious Sports was written entirely by Bley, and features, alongside Mason on drums, many of her regular band musicians, leading Brian Olewnick of AllMusic to consider it a Carla Bley album in all but name.
Wolfgang Sandner summarized for Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that she was "great as a stimulator, as a muse, catalyst, idea generator, as a sounding board and amplifier, also in refusing – virtuosity, fetishised technique, perfect craft, convention and false pathos".
After Bley's marriage to Mantler ended, she began a relationship with bassist Steve Swallow.
In 2005, she arranged the music for and performed on Charlie Haden's latest Liberation Music Orchestra tour and recording, Not in Our Name.
Her final album, Life Goes On, was released in 2020.
In 2018, Bley was diagnosed with brain cancer, from which she died at home in Willow, New York, on October 17, 2023, at age 87.Tobisch, Léopold (October 17, 2023), "La compositrice et jazzwoman Carla Bley est décédée", Radio France
Awards
Bley was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1972 for music composition. In 2009, she received the German Jazz Trophy "A Life for Jazz". Bley received the NEA Jazz Masters Award in 2015.
Discography
External links
Categories: 1936 Births, 2023 Deaths, 20th-century American Keyboardists, 20th-century American Pianists, 20th-century American Women Pianists, 20th-century American Jazz Composers, 20th-century American Organists, 20th-century American Women Composers, 21st-century American Women Composers, 21st-century American Keyboardists, 21st-century American Pianists, 21st-century American Women Pianists, 21st-century American Jazz Composers, 21st-century American Organists, American Jazz Bandleaders, American Jazz Organists, American Jazz Pianists, American Opera Composers, American People Of Swedish Descent, American Women Jazz Musicians, American Big Band Bandleaders, Deaths From Brain Cancer In New York, Ecm Records Artists, Fellows Of The American Academy Of Arts And Sciences, Jazz Musicians From California, Jazz Musicians From New York, Musicians From Oakland, California, Musicians From Woodstock, New York, Post-bop Composers, Post-bop Pianists, Progressive Big Band Musicians, The Golden Palominos Members, American Women Jazz Composers, American Women Jazz Pianists, American Women Opera Composers, American Women Keyboardists, American Women Organists, Jazz Composer's Orchestra Members, Downbeat Jazz Hall Of Fame Members, Nea Jazz Masters
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