Carla Bley Live in Montreal Montreal Jazz Festival

Product Description One of the most notable composers/performers on the contemporary jazz scene, Carla Bley begins this July 1983 concert with the hymnlike "The Lord Is Listening to You." An appropriate beginning, since Bley's musical life began under the tutelage of her church-organist father. From there, via another half-dozen original compositions, she provides a demonstration of her knack for mixing old and new, Europe and America, abstract and highly melodic jazz, into a package that couldn't be anyone else's. Tracks: The Lord Is Listening to You, Heavy Heart, Walking Battery Woman, Heavy Heart, Caucasian Bird Riffles, Ups and Downs, The Lone Arranger, Battleship. Amazon.com The work of one of jazz's more distinctive and underappreciated, if not virtually unknown, musical minds is spotlighted on this hourlong concert program, recorded in 1983. It's apparent from the start that composer-arranger-keyboardist Carla Bley and her 10-piece band are operating in a totally different universe from, say, the Kenny G's of the world. Bley's music is alternately lovely and challenging, filled with shifting rhythms and dynamics, and laced with humor (titles like "Caucasian Bird Riffles" and "The Lone Arranger" are a clue); it's certainly not inaccessible, but neither could it pass for easy listening. Bley herself--ultra-thin, face virtually obscured behind a shock of wavy blond hair--is a rather eccentric presence, but she certainly knows how to pick her musicians: saxophonists Joe Lovano (tenor) and Steve Slagle (alto), trumpeter Michael Mantler (Bley's husband), and bass player Steve Swallow are but a few of the superb players featured here. Worthwhile. --Sam Graham