For over 20 years, the trio of pianist Carla Bley, bassist Steve Swallow, and saxophonist Andy Sheppard have shared each other's creative company. The group's 2016 album, Andando el Tiempo, is a delicately passionate, classically influenced set. A follow-up to 2013's equally compelling Trios, Andando el Tiempo is, surprisingly, only the third album from the group after their initial live 1995 album Songs with Legs. Whereas on Trios they delved into various Bley compositions from throughout her career, on Andando el Tiempo they focus on several more recently penned works. "Naked Bridges/Diving Bridges" brings to mind the impressionism of composer Claude Debussy. It's fascinating to hear the trio move from the moody beginning of the song into the more breezy, straight-ahead mid-section where Swallow, playing fluidly on the upper end of his bass, evinces the lyricism of West Coast trumpeter Chet Baker. The West Coast vibe is also palpable on the ruminative, noir-ish "Saints Alive!" However, it's the title track composition "Andando el Tiempo" that takes center stage on the album. With its three movements meant to represent three of the steps to addiction recovery, "Andando el Tiempo" (meaning "with the passing of time") is a restrained, yet nuanced piece that balances the group's knack for tempered chamber work and fluid, in-the-moment improvisation. Anchored at all times by Bley's measured, atmospheric piano, Sheppard and Swallow take turns dancing in the spotlight. The final movement in particular, the Latin-tinged "Camino al Volver," provides plenty of space for each member of the trio to twirl around each other in focused reverie. Ultimately, it's that shared intensity, born out of the trio's decades-long partnership, that makes Andando el Tiempo such an engaging listen. AMG.
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Mostrar mensagens com a etiqueta Carla Bley. Mostrar todas as mensagens
Mostrar mensagens com a etiqueta Carla Bley. Mostrar todas as mensagens
sexta-feira, 8 de setembro de 2017
quinta-feira, 29 de janeiro de 2015
Carla Bley - Big Band Theory 1993
Carla Bley's 1993 recording Big Band Theory features her 18-piece orchestra playing three rather moody and atmospheric originals, plus a straightforward rendition of Charles Mingus' "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat." Listeners expecting the rambunctious humor that was present in some of Bley's earlier big band albums will be disappointed, but there is quite a bit of beauty on this set, particularly during the dramatic slow section of "Birds of Paradise" and the strangely episodic "On the Stage in Cages." Key among the soloists are trumpeter Lew Soloff, trombonist Gary Valente, altoist Wolfgang Puschnig,Andy Sheppard on tenor, and violinist Alex Balanescu. But overall this set (which is enjoyable enough) is less memorable than one would expect from Carla Bley. AMG.
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sexta-feira, 4 de outubro de 2013
Carla Bley - Social Studies 1981
Not everything Carla Bley has done has been artistically successful, but much of it has -- and the imaginative, good-humored pianist/organist/composer certainly deserves credit for daring to take so many risks. Bley's risk-taking serves her quite well on Social Studies, an unorthodox and adventurous pearl that is as rewarding as it is cerebral. Highlights of this CD range from "Reactionary Tango" (an abstract take on Argentinean music) to the melancholy "Utviklingssang" to the angular quasi-hard bop number "Walking Batteriewoman." This time, Bley leads a nonet, and the star soloists include Carlos Ward (soprano and alto sax), Tony Dagradi (tenor sax, clarinet), Gary Valente (trombone) and frequent allies Michael Mantler (trumpet) and Steve Swallow (electric bass). Bley doesn't allot herself much solo space, but the results are appealing when she does. AMG.
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quinta-feira, 24 de janeiro de 2013
Carla Bley - Looking for America 2003
In a year of patriotism run riot, leave it to composer, pianist, and bandleader Carla Bley to take a look for the heart of what makes it tick -- and what it means to be an Americanski. The Bley Big Band hadn't been around for a while, and this outing is a welcome return. Featuring soloists Lew Soloff, Gary Valente, the remarkable Andy Sheppard, and Wolfgang Puschnig, this most Yankee band goes through the mysterious humor of Bley's sense of irony, harmony, and history to find out where the soul of America lies: in its music, its humor, its over-inflated vision of itself, its funkiness, its innovation, its blindness and crass gift for overstatement, or all of the above. Here, the nearly 22-minute "National Anthem" (comprised of a suite of short pieces with titles such as "OG Can UC?," "Whose Broad Stripes?," "Keep It Spangled," etc.) quotes from America's musical past, including "America the Beautiful," both football and military marches (is there a difference?), swing tunes, Dixieland, pop, and country & western, to state with verve that America is best viewed through the lens of a telescope. "Fast Lane" relies on a hard swinging bebop melodic figure to kick its reed and wind heavy harmonics into gear. The rhythm section chops it down and builds it up again as the horns play startling counterpoint. There are four tracks with the word "mother" in them, and all feature various aspects of that eternal mother Lady Liberty as well as moms everywhere. In "Los Cocineros" and "Tijuana Traffic," you have to wonder which way the American tide is flowing, to or from South of the borderline. Song figures worthy of Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass meet complex Cuban and mariachi rhythms and harmonics in intervallic motions of line and impression. The set ends with the most bluesed-out read of "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" in the history of American popular music. Soloff plays the grit and sweat in both the blues and the barnyard with his opening statement. Stan Kenton would have been proud of this arrangement with its funky rhythmic structure, interwoven solos, and bassline harmonic architecture that expands as the tune goes.Looking for America is a fun, innovative, and indefatigable album by one of the true geniuses in modern jazz. AMG.
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