LP release initially scheduled for 02/14
Pianist and composer Carla Bley offers us a captivating new album, featuring the trio she has formed for 25 years with Andy Sheppard and Steve Swallow. When Carla Bley names her album 'Life Goes On', the very least one can say is that this depth of shared life is the essence of the music heard within. Throughout the album, Carla's distinctive piano style, seemingly haunted by the great figures of Monk and Satie, is masterfully supported by Swallow's bass lines, as elegant as they are eloquent, and Sheppard's ultra-melodic saxophone phrases.
The album, recorded at Studio Auditorio Stelio Molo in Lugano in May 2019, under the artistic direction of Manfred Eicher, consists of three suites. The title track begins as a kind of stoic blues, initially melancholic then frankly joyful. 'Beautiful Telephones', whose title is inspired by President Trump's first impressions upon entering the Oval Office, is a condensed expression of Bley's dark yet sarcastic moods. As for 'Copycat', it innovatively explores the traditional "call and response" form, as if each musician were invited to continue the other's thought in their improvisation.