Carla Bley

"American jazz musician, pianist, composer, arranger, and bandleader Carla Bley (1936-2023) became an icon thanks to her unconventional and original style. She brought sardonic humor and new sounds to jazz, adhering to conventions by breaking them, and making the complex seem simple and the simple seem complex. She combined unconventional harmonies with equally unconventional, almost original instrumentation. Together with her penchant for humorous and ironic elements, this led to a unique sound aesthetic in her musical universe.

On March 14, 1984, the Carla Bley Band was a guest at what was then Studio 10 of Norddeutscher Rundfunk. The ten-piece ensemble included Carla's husband Michael Mantler and bassist Steve Swallow, who still remembers that spring day in Hamburg well: 'This is a great live recording. Michael Naura, who had been promoting jazz at NDR for many years, was a great host. He made us feel welcome and comfortable. The band was on fire, celebrating not after, but during the concert - but, as Gil Evans said, it was a party where we all had a goal in mind. It's a blessing that these recordings of a truly sensational and extraordinary performance have survived intact on a shelf deep in the basement of the NDR archives! And they are also irrefutable proof of the power and humanity in Carla Bley's music!'

There's a wink in every bar, the concert is full of imagination and originality, free spirit and humor."