CARLA BLEY / ANDY SHEPPARD / STEVE SWALLOW - Life Goes On
ECM 083 2063
Carla Bley (piano); Andy Sheppard tenor & soprano saxophones); Steve Swallow (bass)
Recorded May 2019
The recent sequence of albums started with ‘Trios’ in 2013 and went on to ‘Andando El Tiempo’ in 2016. Now we have ‘Life Goes On’, a collection of three suites. The title ‘Life Goes On’ was composed following a recent illness that Bley had and recovered from. She remarked: ‘After that, I thought, “Life goes on.” It’s a simple blues that sounds like real life.’
Bley said recently: ‘We’re essentially a chamber music ensemble and that allows me to write music for us free of bombast and exaggeration.’ A fine description of the music on this album. All of the music was played on Bley’s recent concert in London. The first part of the new suite was based on a 12-bar blues. Bley’s keyboard plays the lower notes while Swallow plays the melody on a higher register. The middle parts, ‘On’ and ‘And On’, are written with wit and humour. The last part, ‘And Then One Day’, moves from tango into a more settled rhythm. This is a great addition to the Bley library., bright and optimistic.
‘Beautiful Telephones’: is inspired by Donald Trump’s observation when he went into the Oval Office for the first time. Bley, with her sharp, subtle wit, points out that its title and the music were inspired by a comment made by Donald Trump in a January 2017 New York Times telephone interview. ‘These are the most beautiful phones I’ve ever used in my life, the world’s most secure system,’ he said. The music is an example of Bley’s idiosyncratic sense of humour. She made the point recently that her one-time political ally, Charlie Haden, would have been more overt about criticising Trump. Threaded through the piece are musical quotes from patriotic marches, including ‘Battle Hymn of the Republic,’ ‘You’re A Grand Old Flag,’ ‘Yankee Doodle Dandy’ ‘Hail to the Chief.’ The composition also segues into a reference to ‘My Way’. But, horrible thought, if Trump ever heard this, I suspect he might miss the sly humour and end up quite liking it.
The playful Bley has free rein in ‘Copycat’. The musical follow my leader is probably quite a challenge to play and is fun to hear.
The recording suits the bass of Steve Swallow, I have never heard it sound better. With a rounded deep sound that occasionally underpins warmly before emerging to solo with the individual sound that no one else can quite achieve. The warm serpentine sound of Andy Sheppard has been an essential part of Bley’s work for the past twenty-five years. His playing wraps around the melodic shapes that Bley creates for him. At times he achieves a strange calm beauty.
The recording made at Auditorio Stelio Molo Studio in Lugano in May 2019 has all the characteristics that Manfred Eicher of ECM values: clarity, detail, everything subservient to musicality.
Bley has changed a great deal over the years and those who have followed the path of this great composer, player and leader continue to be intrigued.
Reviewed by Jack Kenny
ECM 083 2063
Carla Bley (piano); Andy Sheppard tenor & soprano saxophones); Steve Swallow (bass)
Recorded May 2019
The recent sequence of albums started with ‘Trios’ in 2013 and went on to ‘Andando El Tiempo’ in 2016. Now we have ‘Life Goes On’, a collection of three suites. The title ‘Life Goes On’ was composed following a recent illness that Bley had and recovered from. She remarked: ‘After that, I thought, “Life goes on.” It’s a simple blues that sounds like real life.’
Bley said recently: ‘We’re essentially a chamber music ensemble and that allows me to write music for us free of bombast and exaggeration.’ A fine description of the music on this album. All of the music was played on Bley’s recent concert in London. The first part of the new suite was based on a 12-bar blues. Bley’s keyboard plays the lower notes while Swallow plays the melody on a higher register. The middle parts, ‘On’ and ‘And On’, are written with wit and humour. The last part, ‘And Then One Day’, moves from tango into a more settled rhythm. This is a great addition to the Bley library., bright and optimistic.
‘Beautiful Telephones’: is inspired by Donald Trump’s observation when he went into the Oval Office for the first time. Bley, with her sharp, subtle wit, points out that its title and the music were inspired by a comment made by Donald Trump in a January 2017 New York Times telephone interview. ‘These are the most beautiful phones I’ve ever used in my life, the world’s most secure system,’ he said. The music is an example of Bley’s idiosyncratic sense of humour. She made the point recently that her one-time political ally, Charlie Haden, would have been more overt about criticising Trump. Threaded through the piece are musical quotes from patriotic marches, including ‘Battle Hymn of the Republic,’ ‘You’re A Grand Old Flag,’ ‘Yankee Doodle Dandy’ ‘Hail to the Chief.’ The composition also segues into a reference to ‘My Way’. But, horrible thought, if Trump ever heard this, I suspect he might miss the sly humour and end up quite liking it.
The playful Bley has free rein in ‘Copycat’. The musical follow my leader is probably quite a challenge to play and is fun to hear.
The recording suits the bass of Steve Swallow, I have never heard it sound better. With a rounded deep sound that occasionally underpins warmly before emerging to solo with the individual sound that no one else can quite achieve. The warm serpentine sound of Andy Sheppard has been an essential part of Bley’s work for the past twenty-five years. His playing wraps around the melodic shapes that Bley creates for him. At times he achieves a strange calm beauty.
The recording made at Auditorio Stelio Molo Studio in Lugano in May 2019 has all the characteristics that Manfred Eicher of ECM values: clarity, detail, everything subservient to musicality.
Bley has changed a great deal over the years and those who have followed the path of this great composer, player and leader continue to be intrigued.
Reviewed by Jack Kenny
