Track Listing

1. Greasy Gravy
2. Awful Coffee
3. Apearing Nightly at the Black Orchid: 40 On-20 Off/Second Round/What Wo
4. Someone to Watch
5. I Hadn't Anyone 'Till You

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #35512 in Music
• Released on: 2008-09-09
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Live

Album Description
"Carla Bley and her Remarkable Big Band", as the cover has it, in a resolutely contemporary performance of nostalgia-inflected material, recorded live! Rich and robust performances of new Bley material (plus an arrangement of a Ray Noble chestnut) with particularly stellar contributions by saxophone soloists Andy Sheppard and Wolfgang Puschnig, by trumpeter Lew Soloff, and trombonist Gary Valente. Centrepiece of the album is the 25 minute title track "Appearing Nightly At The Black Orchid" - commissioned for the Monterey Jazz Festival and heard here in a premiere recording. This major work reflects on Carla's first musical engagement as a pianist back in the 1950s, and alludes to the spirit and atmosphere of the jazz clubs of the day. The spirit of Gershwin informs Carla's "Someone To Watch". And "I Hadn't Anyone Till You" is a rare instance of Carla arranging another musician's work.

Nat Hentoff, Wall Street Journal
"She works in many forms, and her scores for big jazz bands are matched only by those of Duke Ellington and Charles Mingus for yearning lyricism, explosive exultation and other expressions of the human condition."

From the Artist
We couldn't bring back the past, but this was a chance to pay our respects to the wonderful big bands and great American songwriters that dominated American popular music in the first half of the 20th century", says Carla Bley

Customer Reviews

Literate and enjoyable
This is my first exposure to Carla's Band, and I will certainly be seeking out more of it.

The most unusual thing about this album, at least when compared to other 2008 releases, is that the musical language that composes it feels dated. I wouldn't have been surprised to hear a release like this from one of Toshiko Akiyoshi's bands in the 70s or 80s, and it wouldn't have come across as jarring to listeners back then. There is seemingly very little influence from the post-modern big band sounds of Jason Lindner, Dave Holland, or Maria Schneider.
This could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on the listener.

The 25 minute long suite that serves as the centerpiece to this album is lovely, varied, and really shows off the stylistic flexibility of the group and the soloists. Most of the rest of the album pales in comparison, but the frequent quotes managed to help "Awful Coffee" maintain its contact with the listener.

Boring!
I LOVE Carla Bley and her big band, but this recording are kind a dull! Boring songs, and the soloists are not to creative here. Sad to hear that Soloff can play that boring! If you havent heard Carla Bley Big Band before, check out Looking For America instead...great album!!!