The Swallow Quintet feat. Carla Bley live at JazzFest Berlin 2011

Steve Swallow bass
Chris Cheek tenor sax
Carla Bley Hammond B3
Steve Cardenas guitar
Jorge Rossy drums

recorded live at Haus der Berliner Festspiele, Main Stage, November 6, 2011

1. Sad Old Candle/ Into The Woodwork/ From Whom It May Concern/ Crowded In The Shower (Steve Swallow)
2. Let's Eat (Steve Swallow)
3. Suitable From Framing/ Small Comfort / Still There/ Never Know/ Exil Stage Left (Steve Swallow)
4. Name That Tune (Steve Swallow)

His gig history with this festival dates back to 1966: Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto were his first visiting card. He played with Gary Burton, kicked off John Scofield’s European career and returned with Carla Bley a couple of times. An innovator on the bass guitar, a gifted composer, producer and bandleader, Steve Swallow has been a consistently engaging presence in jazz over the last 40 years.
He has placed first (electric bass) in the Downbeat International Critics Poll since 1983, and in the Downbeat Readers Poll since 1985. He has also won the Jazz Times poll (electric bass) for the past several years, and has been voted the Jazz Journalists Association's electric bassist of the year since 2001, when that category was instituted.
Now he presents his new band, the first in a long time, a potent lineup that features Carla Bley on Hammond B3 organ, tenorist Chris Cheek, guitarist Steve Cardenas and drummer Jorge Rossy. Together, they create eloquent modern jazz packed with dynamism and drive. Between touring he lives in contented isolation with Carla Bley, in the mountains of upstate New York.

Carla Bley, Steve Swallow, Andy Sheppard live in Neuburg 2010

Carla Bley, Piano
Steve Swallow, Bass
Andy Sheppard, Tenor and Soprano Saxophones

recorded live at Jazzclub Birdland in Neuburg an der Donau, November 26, 2010

    1. Rut (Carly Bley)
  2. Valse sinistre (Carla Bley)
    3. Sidewinders in paradise (Carla Bley)
 4. Stroke of luck (Carla Bley)
 5. Awful coffee (Carla Bley)
 6. Interview on Awful coffee
   7. Interview on Sidewinders in paradise

On many of her recordings, Carla Bley could hardly be accused of hogging the spotlight as a soloist; emphasizing her talents as a bandleader, composer and arranger, she tended to let her sidemen take the long solos. But she gave herself a lot more space on 1992's Go Together and Songs with Legs, a live album that was recorded during a May 1994 tour that included dates in Turkey and Western Europe. Forming a drumless trio with longtime ally Steve Swallow (bass) and Britain's flexible Andy Sheppard (tenor and soprano sax), Bley sticks to the acoustic piano and gives herself plenty of room to stretch out. It's a shame that she often chose to take few solos in the past, for Bley's pianism is quite appealing.

 

Carla Bley Band: 188th NDR Jazz Workshop Hamburg 1984

Michael Mantler, tp
Gary Valente, tb
Vincent Chancey, frh
Bob Stewart, tuba
Steve Slagle, fl
Tony De Grady, ts
Steve Swallow, b
Ted Saunders, p, org
Victor Lewis, dr

recorded live at NDR Studio 10, Hamburg, March 14, 1984

1. Talking Hearts (Carla Bley)
2. Joyful Noise (Carla Bley)
3. Misterioso (Thelonious Monk)

In 1984 Carla Bley released the album "I hate to sing", released on WATT. "There's a comic, antic quality afoot here-and isn't that what one expects from Bley in regular doses? The dose is over the top here, particularly on the title track. Certain band members, including the boss, take turns letting the listener know in no uncertain terms why they are instrumentalists and not singers. Dissonant voices collide with dissonant chords on track one, anchored by Steve Swallow's distinctive electric bass on "The Internationale." This one is perhaps even more madcap than usual because of the confluence of flat, non-singing singers balanced with a sort of Germanic romanticism that in places would have brought a smile to Kurt Weill". - Willard Jenkins, JazzTimes

Carla Bley & Steve Swallow & NDR Bigband: On the Stage in Cages - live in Kiel/ Salzau 2006

Carla Bley, piano
Steve Swallow, bass
Danny Gottlieb, drums
NDR Big Band

recorded live in Kiel/ Salzau, August 2006

1. Appearing Nightly At The Black Orchid, Part 1 (Carla Bley)
Soloists: Carla Bley, p, Steve Swallow, b, Christof Lauer, ts, Nils Landgren, tb, Peter Bolte, as, Danny Gottlieb, dr
2. Los Cocineros (Carla Bley)
Soloists: Fiete Felsch, as; Frank Delle, ts; Nils Landgren, tb; Marcio Doctor, perc
3. Lo Ultimo (Carla Bley)
Soloists: Christof Lauer, ts; Frank Delle, ts; Lutz Büchner, bs; Peter Bolte, as
4. Tijuana Traffic (Carla Bley)
Soloists: Dan Gottshall, tb; Claus Stötter, tp

Post-bop jazz has produced only a few first-rate composers of larger forms; Carla Bley ranks high among them. Bley possesses an unusually wide compositional range; she combines an acquaintance with and love for jazz in all its forms with great talent and originality. Her music is a peculiarly individual type of hyper-modern jazz. Bley is capable of writing music of great drama and profound humor, often within the confines of the same piece. As an instrumentalist, Bley makes a fine composer; she plays piano and/or organ with most of her bands, and while her playing is always quite musical, it's clear that her strengths lie elsewhere. Bley's asymmetrical compositional structures subvert jazz formula to wonderful effect, and her unpredictable melodies are often as catchy as they are obscure. In the tradition of jazz's very finest composers and improvisers, Bley has developed a style of her very own, and the music as a whole is the better for it. (allmusic.com)

Her latest recording "Carla's Christmas Carols" was released in 2008 on Watt.