Composer of the Week: Carla Bley

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Composer of the Week

Music: Classical

Composer of the Week - Brand

An informative guide to composers' lives and their music.

An informative and accessible guide to composers' lives and their music.

Composer of the Week: Carla Bley (b 1936): Two Can Make Three

Two Can Make Three

Carla Bley (b 1936)

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Carla Bley (b 1936), Two Can Make Three

Jazz composer Carla Bley finds a new pathway in trio form. With Donald Macleod

Jazz composer Carla Bley' finds a new pathway, this time, in trio form. With Donald Macleod and writer and jazz critic Kevin Le Gendre.

Jazz composer Carla Bley' finds a new musical pathway, this time, in trio form.

With Donald Macleod and writer and jazz critic Kevin Le Gendre.

One of the most original voices in jazz, composer, arranger, performer and bandleader Carla Bley has been determinedly pursuing her own musical path for more than 60 years.  Her back catalogue of some 50 plus recordings tell the story of a musician who's responded in her own unique style to all the current trends, from free and experimental jazz in the 60s and 70s to 80s soul, blues and R&B. In later decades, she's written for and created big bands recalling the musical landscapes of Count Basie and the Duke and in the last 20 years, she's refined a distilled, intimate style for smaller chamber ensembles, in particular performing in a trio with her life partner, bassist Steve Swallow and the British saxophonist Andy Sheppard.  Little wonder then, her fellow musicians affectionately call Bley 'Countess Bleysie' and 'Bleythoven'. Featuring a selection of recordings suggested by Carla Bley, Donald Macleod and Kevin Le Gendre follow Bley's musical adventuring from her early days writing for Paul Bley and Gary Burton, to her latest album for the Carla Bley Trio, released in 2020. 

In 1994 saxophonist Andy Sheppard joined regular musical partners Carla Bley and Steve Swallow on tour. It was a move that would see Bley develop new confidence as a pianist, refining and honing her famously distilled style, and it was the start of a creative partnership that has continued following Bley's treatment for cancer in 2018. 

Doctor 
Carla Bley, piano 
Steve Swallow, bass

Wrong Key Donkey 
Carla Bley, piano 
Andy Sheppard, tenor saxophone 
Steve Swallow, bass

And then one Day
Carla Bley, piano 
Andy Sheppard, tenor and soprano saxophones 
Steve Swallow, bass

Vashkar
Carla Bley, piano 
Andy Sheppard, soprano saxophone 
Steve Swallow, bass

Wildlife 
Carla Bley, piano 
Andy Sheppard, soprano saxophone 
Steve Swallow, bass

Producer: Johannah Smith

Composer of the Week: Carla Bley (b 1936)

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Donald Macleod surveys the career of one of the most original voices in jazz, Carla Bley.

Kevin Le Gendre joins Donald Macleod to survey the career of one of the most original voices in jazz - composer, arranger, performer and bandleader Carla Bley,

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Carla Bley (b 1936)

Two Can Make Three

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