Carla Bley Quotes

United States, Bandleader
May 11, 1936

Carla Bley (née Lovella May Borg; born May 11, 1936) is an American jazz composer, pianist, organist and bandleader. An important figure in the free jazz movement of the 1960s, she is perhaps best known for her jazz opera Escalator over the Hill (released as a triple LP set), as well as a book of compositions that have been performed by many other artists, including Gary Burton, Jimmy Giuffre, George Russell, Art Farmer, John Scofield and her ex-husband Paul Bley.

Also known as Composer, Conductor, Jazz Musician, Pianist, Saxophonist

I like chords that are very lush with all the lush parts taken out.

Carla Bley
- Taken
- Like
- Very
Listening is more important than anything else because that's what music is. Somebody is playing something and you're receiving it. It is sending and receiving.

Carla Bley

When you are studying jazz, the best thing to do is listen to records or listen to live music. It isn't as though you go to a teacher. You just listen as much as you can and absorb everything.

Carla Bley
- Music
- Live
- Best
When you have 13 horns, and one is soloing, you have 12 people to play the richest, fullest chord you could ever imagine behind that solo.

Carla Bley
- People
- Play
- Behind
Living composers writing for big band are very few and far between. There are not a lot of them, and I have a talent for doing it. I am zeroing in on what I do best.

Carla Bley
- Writing
- Band
- Best
There are times when what's happening in rock is the best music in the world, and there are times when there is nothing worthwhile at all.

Carla Bley
- World
- Music
- Best
One performer whose band played my music better than I could myself was Art Farmer. He recorded 'Sing Me Softly of the Blues' and 'Ad Infinitum'.

Carla Bley
- Music
- Art
- Myself
It would be really hard to get serious about anything political today unless it was a joke.

Carla Bley
- Today
- Political
- Serious

I don't need much coaxing.

Carla Bley
- Need
- Much
I just got to hear every note. After I left Birdland, I started working at the Jazz Gallery. In the end, I still couldn't play, but I knew how to listen. I was probably the world's best listener.

Carla Bley
- World
- Best
- End
I don't think you can ever regain your ignorance.

Carla Bley
- Think
- You
- Ignorance
Gerry Mulligan and Chet Baker seemed so sophisticated and bad. I wanted to be like that.

Carla Bley
- Bad
- Like
- Sophisticated
When Ronald Reagan was elected I was on a bus traveling with a band in France. I wrote a little arrangement of The Star Spangled Banner in a minor key.

Carla Bley
- Band
- Star
- Key
I still prefer the bebop of the '40s. The very stuff I started out with is still the best to me. I have come full circle.

Carla Bley
- Me
- Best
- Prefer

I got started when I was 3 years old because my father was a music teacher and my lessons were free. Instead of learning to walk, you learn to play the piano.

Carla Bley
- Music
- Father
- Free
I write very slowly.

Carla Bley
- Write
- Very
- Slowly
I don't enjoy traveling in America. I don't like the food, the cars. It is not exotic enough. It all tastes a bit like airline food.

Carla Bley
- America
- Food
- Enjoy