Very Big Carla Bley Band [Original recording reissued, Import]

Carla Bley | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 27, 2000)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued, Import
• Label: Ecm Import
• ASIN: B000025XHL
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #362,291 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Peace and meaning in the wild, June 26, 2001

By 

Bill Ewing (Arlington, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Very Big Carla Bley Band (Audio CD)

Snap your fingers, contort your body in pleasure, bow to unbelievable virtuosity, yeah, yeah, all jazz albums do that -- the ante is sky-high, these days. But turn a briar of brambles into a rosebed, that's a real accomplishment. Carla Bley starts with material that would challenge John Cage -- unexpected chords, abrupt transitions. She stuffs it into a blues mold and floats it on a river of lush big-band harmony. Soaring above it, Lew Soloff's trumpet mouths words of timeless truth, and when you reach the summit, Gary Valente pokes you -- tickles you with his trombone, reminding you that underneath it all, you are simple, primitive, garish, bold, gutteral, human. It's a religious experience: Carla's Catholic setting, Soloff our deft Buddha, Gary the black Baptist with the raspy voice. This album "hangs together" more than the average Bley album, musical references go back and forth, and they poke fun at the "Home of the Brave" and "Santa Clause is coming to town". Musicologists love that stuff, and why not? It's magnificently done. It's also perhaps the most consistently good Bley album -- rarely boring, always in tune. But what really turns me on is Carla's usual trump card: she writes material that brings out more character from Lew and Gary and Andy and Wolfgang than even they could have thought possible. Carla pulls their souls out through their instruments, exorcises you, then swaps your soul for theirs, in a transfusion of joyous energy. You don't listen to Carla Bley; you are reborn through her. And yeah, you snap your fingers!