Carla Bley (born Lovella May Borg; May 11, 1936 – October 17, 2023) was an American jazz composer, pianist, organist, and bandleader.[2] An important figure in the free jazz movement of the 1960s, she was perhaps best known for her jazz opera Escalator over the Hill (released as a triple LP set), as well as a book of compositions that have been performed by many other artists, including Gary Burton, Jimmy Giuffre, George Russell, Art Farmer, Robert Wyatt, John Scofield, and her ex-husband Paul Bley. She was a pioneer in the development of independent artist-owned record labels, and recorded over two dozen albums between 1966 and 2019.[3]
Early life
Bley was born in Oakland, California, in 1936, to Swedish parents. Her father, Emil Borg, a piano teacher and church choirmaster,[2][4] encouraged her to sing and to learn to play the piano; her mother, Arline Anderson, died of a heart attack when Bley was eight years old.[5] After giving up church to immerse herself in roller skating at the age of fourteen,[6] she moved to New York City at seventeen and became a cigarette girl at Birdland, where she met jazz pianist Paul Bley, who encouraged her to start composing.[1] She toured with him under the name Karen Borg before changing her name in 1957 to Carla Borg. She married Bley and took his name the same year,[7] later divorcing.[8] She kept the surname professionally thereafter.[9]
Career
A number of musicians began to record Bley's compositions: George Russell recorded "Bent Eagle" for his album Stratusphunk in 1960;[10]Jimmy Giuffre recorded "Ictus" on his album Thesis;[5] and Paul Bley's Barrage consisted entirely of her compositions.[11] Throughout her career, Bley thought of herself as a writer first, describing herself as 99 percent composer and one percent pianist.[12]
Wolfgang Sandner summarized for Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that she was "great as a stimulator, as a muse, catalyst, idea generator, as a sounding board and amplifier, also in refusing – virtuosity, fetishised technique, perfect craft, convention and false pathos".[4]
Later life and death
Bley playing in 2009
Bley continued to record frequently with her own big band, which included Lew Soloff from Blood, Sweat & Tears, and with a number of smaller ensembles, notably the Lost Chords.[17]
After Bley's marriage to Mantler ended, she began a relationship with bassist Steve Swallow.[5]
In 2005, she arranged the music for and performed on Charlie Haden's latest Liberation Music Orchestra tour and recording, Not in Our Name. Her last album, Life Goes On, was released in 2020.[5]
In 2018, Bley was diagnosed with brain cancer,[13] from which she died at home in Willow, New York, on October 17, 2023, at age 87.[5][18]
Awards
Bley was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1972 for music composition.[19] In 2009, she received the German Jazz Trophy "A Life for Jazz".[20] Bley received the NEA Jazz Masters Award in 2015.[21]
