Rob Schwimmer gave invaluable Bley guidance including loaning me scores to Escalator and Tropic Appetites. Gavin BryarsвЂ™s Gramophone article can be found at GavinвЂ™s website the moment where he tells me about 3/4 for Piano and Orchestra is in the DTM interview. Between them Rob and Gavin are unquestionably the вЂњgodfathersвЂќ of my recent Bley studies.

However, as mentioned in the piece, once I settled down to really work, the biography Carla Bley by Amy C. Very, very special thanks to Steve Swallow, the point man for all things WATT related. The WATT website designed by Karen Mantler is astonishing. The first draft of вЂњ A Lifetime of Carla BleyвЂќ was 7000 words it then was trimmed down to less than 3000. (Even bursting the seams at 7000, somehow there wasnвЂ™t room for a mention of The Ballad of the Fallen, which for me is the greatest of the Liberation Music Orchestra albums. However, I did include Fallen on my list of 50 ECM albums.) Certainly it had the most impact: I can sing along with most all of side A. What follows are the best bits from the profile that didnвЂ™t make the final cut, including a listenerвЂ™s guide to essentially every Carla Bley album after Escalator and 3/4 for Piano and Orchestra. There is a certain amount of unavoidable overlap between this page, the interview, and the Culture Desk. One can purchase the bound volume вЂњEarly Short Pieces (1958-1964)вЂќ from the WATT website for twelve dollars. Almost all of them were recorded by Paul Bley, beginning with what Paul claimed was his first worthy album, вЂњFootloose,вЂќ but also on other now-canonical LPs like вЂњCloser,вЂќ вЂњBarrage,вЂќ and вЂњTurning Point.вЂќ It contains fifteen avant-garde compositions familiar to anyone who loves the divergent currents of early 60s jazz. вЂњIda LupinoвЂќ and вЂњJesus MariaвЂќ are in the bound volume вЂњSongs Without Words (1961 вЂ“ 1975),вЂќ for sale at WATT for fifteen dollars.

The first American distributor for ECM was New Music Distribution Service. In time the tables were turned, and ECM became the distributor of WATT recordings. Gavin Bryars makes the intriguing comment about her huge discography,В вЂњEach album, of course, contains a diverse set of pieces but each album too contains at least one masterpiece.вЂќ In the streaming era, all of CarlaвЂ™s output is easy to hear.

It was a pleasure to go through everything and look for some of the masterpieces. вЂњDinner MusicвЂќ The funk supergroup Stuff played gigs in upstate New York close to WATT headquarters. The title is a reference to the idea of functional music espoused by Brian Eno.Д¬arla fell in love and wrote an album around them. ItвЂ™s a challenging listen, mainly because Stuff didnвЂ™t really understand the aesthetic: later on Richard Tee told Carla he thought they were making backing tracks for a group of girl singers. However, Roswell RuddвЂ™s declamation of вЂњA New HymnвЂќ has undeniable beauty. вЂњEuropean Tour 1977вЂќ One of the best and most consistent Bley discs features a few unruly English musicians (Carla called them вЂњvery bad boys of questionable characterвЂќ) interfacing with American giants like Rudd and Andrew Cyrille.

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