Bley, Carla - Andando el Tiempo

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In time for Carla Bley’s 80th birthday on May 11, here is a new album by her outstanding trio with Andy Sheppard and Steve Swallow. This particular trio, in existence now for more than twenty years, has come to be the primary vehicle for conveying her compositions to the world. It’s a challenging task: “When I write for the trio,” Carla explained to the Detroit Metro-Times recently, “it’s really big band music reduced. I have to play way over my head and so do the guys. They have to take on a lot more than they would if I still had a big band.”
For listeners, one of the great pleasures of Carla’s small group work is hearing more of her unique piano playing. Where she once insisted that she was “one per cent player and ninety-nine per cent composer,” she allows that in recent years the player has been obliged to gain ground, inspired by the examples of Sheppard and Swallow. The subtle interaction of the players is well-served by the clarity of this new recording, and all three of them shine here – Carla with her spare, thoughtful playing, Swallow with his perfectly poised and elegant electric bass, Sheppard with his poignant saxophones.