The composer, arranger, bandleader and pianist Carla Bley in performance in 1982. She was branded an avant-gardist early in her career, but her music always maintained a place for tonal harmony / David Corio/Redferns, via Getty Images
Ms. Bley’s influential body of work included delicate chamber miniatures and rugged, blaring fanfares, with a lot of varied terrain in between. She was an irrepressibly original composer, arranger and pianist responsible for more than 60 years of wily provocations in and around jazz.
"With her iconic bangs, sharp features and free-flowing sense of the absurd, Carla Bley, who died Oct. 17 of brain cancer at age 87, was unable to go unnoticed in the male-dominated jazz world of the ’70s and ’80s. Her distinctive, sometimes-absurdist/always-adventurous compositions made her impossible to forget."
James Hale in Downbeat. Carla Bley, Provocative Composer-Pianist, Dies at Age 87
Alto Saxophone – Jimmy Lyons
Baritone Saxophone – Chris Woods
Bass – Charlie Haden
Bass Trombone – Jack Jeffers
Clarinet – Perry Robinson
Drums – Paul Motian
Electric Guitar – John McLaughlin
French Horn – Sharon Freeman
Piano – Carla Bley
Tenor Saxophone – Gato Barbieri
Trombone – Roswell Rudd
Trumpet – Michael Mantler
Tuba – John Buckingham
Voice – Linda Ronstadt
Voice – Charlie Haden