Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Carla Bley's Trios

Pianist/composer Carla Bley, 77 years old now, knows outrage and energy; her early masterwork Escalator Over the Hill ends with repetition infinite — or at least, until the needle punches through the lock groove at the end of side six on the vinyl. Escalator had a cast of a few dozen — only the best, because Bley was good enough to know only the best.

Forty-odd years after that, she’s gone along the way that many aging folks go along. Trios contains spare conversations — and they are conversations, all three players having learned to talk through their chops — about regret, triumph, portent, and doing what you can with what you’ve got left.

Steve Swallow’s electric bass sounds unlike a bass at first. He can “go there” to an expected sound, but he’s mastered a high, warm tone something like the late guitarist Jim Hall. Bley can drop out her left hand to let Swallow handle the down-low, but sometimes stabs in to enrich it.

Sponsored
Sponsored

At first I found saxophonist Andy Sheppard the odd voice that pinches. His tone seemed insistent, insecure, determined to be heard regardless of content, unlike the other two who don’t much care whether anyone else listens in. Then I twigged to how Sheppard lets his wind flag, breathing softly through his tenor but not fingering anything. I heard his hidden hesitancy. He’s new to this conversation, but he’s trying to fit in. All three take note of ordinary, mortal time. The window darkens. The darkness richens.

  • Artists: Carla Bley, Andy Sheppard, and Steve Swallow
  • Album: Trios
  • Label: ECM
  • Songs: (1) Utviklingssang (2) Vashkar (3) Les Trois Lagons (D'Après Henri Matisse): Plate XVII/Plate XVIII/Plate XIX (4) Wildlife: Horns/Paws Without Claws/Sex with Birds (5) The Girl Who Cried Champagne
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Top Websites To Buy Instagram Likes + Bonus Tip!

Next Article

Flowering pear trees in Kensington not that nice

Empty dirt plots in front of Ken Cinema

Pianist/composer Carla Bley, 77 years old now, knows outrage and energy; her early masterwork Escalator Over the Hill ends with repetition infinite — or at least, until the needle punches through the lock groove at the end of side six on the vinyl. Escalator had a cast of a few dozen — only the best, because Bley was good enough to know only the best.

Forty-odd years after that, she’s gone along the way that many aging folks go along. Trios contains spare conversations — and they are conversations, all three players having learned to talk through their chops — about regret, triumph, portent, and doing what you can with what you’ve got left.

Steve Swallow’s electric bass sounds unlike a bass at first. He can “go there” to an expected sound, but he’s mastered a high, warm tone something like the late guitarist Jim Hall. Bley can drop out her left hand to let Swallow handle the down-low, but sometimes stabs in to enrich it.

Sponsored
Sponsored

At first I found saxophonist Andy Sheppard the odd voice that pinches. His tone seemed insistent, insecure, determined to be heard regardless of content, unlike the other two who don’t much care whether anyone else listens in. Then I twigged to how Sheppard lets his wind flag, breathing softly through his tenor but not fingering anything. I heard his hidden hesitancy. He’s new to this conversation, but he’s trying to fit in. All three take note of ordinary, mortal time. The window darkens. The darkness richens.

  • Artists: Carla Bley, Andy Sheppard, and Steve Swallow
  • Album: Trios
  • Label: ECM
  • Songs: (1) Utviklingssang (2) Vashkar (3) Les Trois Lagons (D'Après Henri Matisse): Plate XVII/Plate XVIII/Plate XIX (4) Wildlife: Horns/Paws Without Claws/Sex with Birds (5) The Girl Who Cried Champagne
Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Gonzo Report: Half Hour Late lives up to their name at the Template

Deadhead-inflected band right at home in Ocean Beach
Next Article

Making Love to Goats, Rachmaninoff, and Elgar

Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.