Carla Bley was an American jazz composer, pianist, organist, and bandleader. An important figure in the free jazz movement of the 1960s.
She was 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.
Carla Bley Biography
Carla Bley was born in Oakland, California in 1936, to Emil Borg, a piano teacher and church choirmaster, who encouraged her to sing and to learn to play the piano, and Arline Anderson, who died when Bley was eight years old.
After giving up the church to immerse herself in roller skating at the age of fourteen, she moved to New York at seventeen and became a cigarette girl at Birdland, where she met jazz pianist Paul Bley.
She toured with him under the name Karen Borg, before she changed her name in 1957 to Carla Borg and married Paul Bley the same year adopting the Bley name.
He encouraged her to start composing. The couple divorced in 1967, but she kept his surname professionally.
Several musicians recorded Carla Bley’s compositions, including George Russell with “Bent Eagle” on his album Stratusphunk in 1960, Jimmy Giuffre with “Ictus” on his album Thesis, and Paul Bley’s Barrage, which exclusively featured her compositions.
Bley primarily identified herself as a writer, considering herself 99 percent composer and one percent pianist.
In 1964, she helped found the Jazz Composers Guild, uniting pioneering musicians in New York. She later had a daughter, Karen Mantler, with Michael Mantler, who also pursued music.
Bley and Mantler were married from 1965 to 1991.
With Mantler, she co-led the Jazz Composers’ Orchestra and started the JCOA record label which issued a number of historic recordings by Clifford Thornton, Don Cherry and Roswell Rudd, as well as her own magnum opus Escalator Over The Hill and Mantler’s The Jazz Composer’s Orchestra LPs,
Bley and Mantler were pioneers in the development of independent artist-owned record labels and also started the now defunct New Music Distribution Service which specialized in small, independent labels that issued recordings of “creative improvised music”.
Bley arranged and composed music for bassist Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra, and wrote A Genuine Tong Funeral for vibraphonist Gary Burton.
Bley collaborated with a number of other artists, including Jack Bruce,Robert Wyatt and Nick Mason, drummer for the rock group Pink Floyd.
Mason’s solo debut album Nick Mason’s Fictitious Sports was entirely written by Bley and features, alongside Mason on drums, many of her regular band musicians, leading Brian Olewnick of AllMusic to consider it a Carla Bley album in all but name.
Bley continued to record frequently with her own big band, which included Blood, Sweat & Tears’ notable Lew Soloff, and a number of smaller ensembles, notably the Lost Chords.
In 2005, she arranged the music for and performed on Charlie Haden’s latest Liberation Music Orchestra tour and recording, Not in Our Name. Her last album, Life Goes On, was released in 2020.
Carla Bley Death
Bley died at her home in Willow, New York, on October 17, 2023, at the age of 87.
Carla Bley Parents
Bley was born to Emil Borg, a piano teacher and church choirmaster, who encouraged her to sing and to learn to play the piano, and Arline Anderson, who died when Bley was eight years old.
Carla Bley Siblings
Carla Bley had no siblings. She was the only child of Emil Borg and Arline Anderson.
Carla Bley Age
Carla Bley was a renowned jazz pianist and composer who died on October 17, 2023 at the age of 87.
Carla Bley Husband
Carla Bley had three husbands in her life. Her first husband was Paul Bley, a fellow jazz pianist whom she married in 1957 and divorced in 1964.
Her second husband was Michael Mantler, a trumpeter and composer whom she married in 1965 and divorced in 1991.
Her third and last husband was Steve Swallow, a bassist and composer whom she married in 1991 and remained with until her death.
Carla Bley Children
Carla Bley had one child, Karen Mantler, who was born on April 25, 1966.
Karen Mantler is also a musician who plays piano, organ, chromatic harmonica, and sings.
Carla Bley Family
Father: Arline Anderson
Mother: Emil Borg.
Siblings: None
Spouse: Steve Swallow (m. 1991), Michael Mantler (m. 1965–1991), Paul Bley (m. 1957–1964)
Children: Karen Mantler.
Carla Bley Net Worth
Carla Bley was a successful and prolific jazz pianist and composer who had an estimated net worth of about $20 million at the time of her death.
She made her fortune by creating and performing original music for over six decades, collaborating with many famous musicians, and founding several record labels and distribution services.
She also received a Guggenheim fellowship and other awards for her work.
She was a pioneer of free jazz and jazz-rock fusion, and influenced many generations of artists.
Carla Bley Cause of death
Her death was announced by longtime partner and musical collaborator Steve Swallow, who said the cause was complications from brain cancer.
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