Carla Bley in memorium

 Why hasn't Carla Bley been a larger part of my consciousness, my art? She was a major artist, a great composer. I have played a few of her pieces: some version of "Ida Pupina", "Syndrome", "Utviklingssang", "Vashkar". Not that many, though I'm probably forgetting some. 

Two particular pieces of hers have really stuck with me: "Jésus Maria" and "Musique Méchanique pt.1". There's a live recording of the former by the Jimmy Giuffre Trio (with Paul Bley and Steve Swallow) from 1961, released in 1993 by hatArt that completely floored me. It's exquisitely beautiful, hushed, played loosely. It's interesting that Paul placed as much emphasis on his then-wife's compositions as he did. In the notes for a book of her music that was published, she wrote that the first piece she wrote was recorded. That's a pretty good start. I had an acoustic quartet with Daryl Fleming, Lindsey Horner, and Jim DiSpirito once (soprano, guitar, bass, and tabla) that focused on ECM/Ralph Towner style material, and I tried to introduce this piece to the band. I don't recall if we ever performed it. 

The latter: "MM pt1" is made to sound like a big mechanical orchestra wheezing to life, speeding up, and then completely breaking down at the end. It sounds silly, and like the sort of thing I generally dislike: trying to tell a story through sound. And yet, it absolutely works and is incredibly beautiful and dramatic. Even without the programmatic trappings of representing a semi-broken street organ, the music is catchy but with an unpredictable chord sequence and rousing ascending scale line. All of which means, go find a copy and listen to it!

(Part 3 is good but not as amazing, which at times intentionally sounds like a skipping record. Part 2 was sung by Roswell Rudd and...is hard to take. They can't all be home runs I guess.)

What a strange character Carla presented herself to be, with her wild red hair just covering her eyes, her sometimes humorous or even silly song and album titles. But consider her accomplishments: releasing albums on two different labels she ran with second husband Mike Mantler (JCOA and WATT), composing a piano concerto, various trio, quartet, and big band projects through the years. And then of course, Escalator Over the Hill, released as a three-LP set that's practically an opera. Please look up the liner notes to see everyone involved, but image one project bringing together Linda Ronstadt, Jack Bruce, Dewey Redman, and John McLaughlin. 

And a career that spanned from the late 1950s to 2020s.

Carla died at 87 from brain cancer. Ugh. Not exactly a young age (with a lot of mileage behind that time) but I've had friends die from brain cancer and it's harsh. 

I'm digging through my Carla vinyl, more than I remember owning. Time to spin them all. I'll have to pull out something on my Thoth Trio gig this coming Saturday; David and I have played "Syndrome" with Jeff Berman and I could pull that out. But I think I'll see if "Jèsus Maria" translates well to our format.

I had some thoughts about what distinguishes her composing, there are some things she tends to do. But you know what? Who cares? I'm not writing an academic treatise, just reflecting on an important artist who, despite her accolades, still probably deserved to be better known. Thanks Carla, I'll be spending more time with you, if from a distance.