Carla Bley (American Composers)
"Amy C. Beal responds with alacrity and intellectual force to the challenge of contextualizing the work of this uniquely important, yet academically underexplored twentieth-century American composer-performer. An important and salutary work that greatly enriches the field of jazz studies." George E. Lewis, author of A Power Stronger Than Itself: The AACM and American Experimental Music "Beal could have easily written a biography three or four times longer than the present volume. But it would be a mistake to consider Carla Bley something of a half-loaf, as it is more than enough to set the record straight." Bill Shoemaker, Wire magazine "Author Amy Beal writes that this volume, the first to examine Bley in any depth, could be the first utterance in what we can only hope is a much longer--and louder--conversation... Beal's prose is often lyrical and always dynamic, she instantly finds the appropriate pacing for the narrative and, just as quickly, demonstrates deep knowledge of and affection for her subject." Jedd Beaudoin, PopMatters.com "An intelligent and sensitive compositional history of Carla Bley's music. Amy C. Beal honors Bley's famous humor and autodidactism without compromising a serious analysis of Bley's compositions over a very long and distinguished career." Sherrie Tucker, co-editor of Big Ears: Listening for Gender in Jazz Studies