Carla Bley (b. May 11, 1936) is an American jazz composer, pianist, organist and one of the relatively few women band leaders in jazz.
Just some of her many distinctions and collaborative efforts:
Bley has collaborated with a number of other artists, including Jack Bruce, Robert Wyatt and Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason, whose 1981 solo album Nick Mason’s Fictitious Sports was a Carla Bley album in all but name. She arranged and composed music for Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra, and wrote A Genuine Tong Funeral for Gary Burton. Her arrangement of the music for Federico Fellini’s 8½ appeared on Hal Willner’s Nino Rota tribute record, Amarcord Nino Rota. She has also contributed to other Hal Willner projects, including the song “Misterioso” for the tribute to Thelonious Monk entitled “That’s the Way I Feel Now”, which included Johnny Griffin as guest musician on tenor saxophone, and the Willner-directed tribute to Kurt Weill, entitled “Lost in the Stars”, where she and her band contributed an arrangement of the title track, with Phil Woods as guest musician on alto saxophone. In the late 1980s, she also performed with Anton Fier’s Golden Palominos and played on their 1985 album, Visions of Excess. (Wiki)
Photo: Klaus Muempfer
Gil Evans, stylish Canadian jazz pianist, arranger and conductor (May 13, 1912 - 1988) - frequent collaborator with Miles Davis and instrumental in the development of the ‘cool jazz’ style…
Photo: Gil w. Miles
