Big Band Goes to Church
Carla Bley's worship starts out as if her hefty big band of 17 players is at a sleepy, sun-heated Sunday afternoon service--at church to rest. Then the saxophone of EnglishmanAndy Sheppard, trumpet of Lew Soloff, and trombone of Gary Valente make clear that Bley's will be a devotion of varied mood and spirit. Other soloists at this concert, recorded in 1996 at the Umbria Jazz Festival in Perugia, Italy, include Karen Mantler on organ and harmonica and altoist Wolfgang Puschnig, also a senior figure in theVienna Art Orchestra. In such pieces as "Exaltation/Religious Experience," Puschnig's tone, plangent and anxious, strikes just the right chord, thoughtful and uncertain about his chances of deliverance rather than simply worshipful. In general, the different instrumental voices constitute differing shades of supplication and fervor. Bley arranges handily, varying between all-out big-band blare and quieter spots for smaller groupings, often featuring herself on contemplative piano. And she writes with great command and balance.--Peter Monaghan