Carla Bley - Fleur Carnivore (1989)

"The Big Carla Bley Band" were captured here during three nights in Copenhagen, November 1988, and writing, arrangement and spirited performances were top-flight as always.  The achingly soulful title track that kicks off proceedings was a commission to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Duke Ellington's passing, and The Eternal Waiting Of Canute transports the Norse/English king to more gently lilting Latin shores than the title might suggest.

Another highlight is the 17-minute, three-part suite The Girl Who Cried Champagne.  IIRC (from an interview following a trio remake about six years ago), Steve Swallow would present Bley with a bottle of fizz whenever she finished a composition, and fancying a drink, she lied about this one being complete before it was.  Anyway, this whole set is champagne-worthy, and well worthy of its general recognition as one of Bley's very best releases.

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Previously posted at SGTG: Appearing Nightly

Carla Bley And Her Remarkable Big Band - Appearing Nightly (2008)

Following on from the first SGTG post of Michael Mantler's music last week, how about some Carla Bley?  Well, this isn't the first time music penned by Carla has featured here - that was Dreams So Real - but it is the first time the fringed genius herself and her own band have been posted.  Daughter Karen Mantler (on organ) and longtime bassist Steve Swallow are just two of the "Remarkable!" big band here.

Appearing Nightly is a live album recorded at the New Morning club in Paris in July 2006, and starts with three commissions - the opening pair, Greasy Gravy and Awful Coffee, were commissioned by the Jazz Orchestra of Sardinia, and the spectacular suite that follows, Appearing Nightly At The Black Orchid, was written for the Monterey Jazz Festival.  Throughout, Bley pays tribute to the big band traditions of Ellington and Mingus whilst putting her own idiosyncratic stamp on everything.  Closing out the show are Someone To Watch (another Bley composition, but it does end with a sly quote from Someone To Watch Over Me), and a lovely rendition of Ray Noble's I Hadn't Had Anyone Till You.  Remarkable stuff from the first note to the last.

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Michael Mantler with Don Preston - Alien (1985)

Eerie, soundtracky collaboration between trumpeter, composer and Jazz Composer's Orchestra co-founder Michael Mantler, and Mother Of Invention Don Preston.  Mantler wrote this four-part suite and plays trumpet; Preston gets the sound bang up to date (for 1985) with an array of Yamahas, Korgs and Linn Drums.

The album title doesn't really have an explanation; a link to Ridley Scott's first Alien movie from six years prior is often hypothesized, as is the thought that it could work as an alternative soundtrack to that film.  Mantler is on record as saying that he wanted to write something that used synthesizers in place of an orchestra, and Alien works well in that intent.  The sinister synth buzzings and and stabbings in Part 3 are my favourite thing here, but the whole suite is an excellent conjuring of dark, cold space where no-one can hear you scream.

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