Carla Bley, Jazz Composer and Pianist, Dies at 87
variety.comCaroline Brew editor Carla Bley, an influential jazz composer and pianist, died in her home in Willow, N.Y. due to complications from brain cancer.
She was 87. Bley’s partner of over 30 years, bassist Steve Swallow, confirmed the news to The New York Times. A pioneer of the free jazz movement, Bley led a big band with New York’s leading musicians, a sextet including Larry Willis and Hiram Bullock and a chamberlike trio with Swallow and Andy Sheppard.
Bley was the original conductor and arranger of the Liberation Music Orchestra, the ensemble Charlie Haden formed in 1969, and continued to lead it in tribute, following Haden’s death in 2014.
She was known for her 1971 jazz opera “Escalator Over the Hill,” which helped establish her unique style of operatic jazz and featured artists such as Linda Ronstadt, Jack Bruce and Charlie Haden.
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