"Carla Bley (born Lovella May Borg, May 11, 1936) is an American jazz composer, pianist, organist and bandleader. An important figure in the free jazz movement of the 1960s, she is 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.

Bley was born in Oakland, California to Emil Borg (1899-1990), a piano teacher and church choirmaster, who encouraged her to sing and to learn to play the piano, and Arline Anderson (1907-1944), 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 later divorced but she kept his surname professionally.Later life and career

A number of musicians began to record Bley's compositions: George Russell recorded "Bent Eagle" on his 1960 release Stratusphunk in 1960; Jimmy Giuffre recorded "Ictus" on his album Thesis; and Paul Bley's Barrage consisted entirely of her compositions. Throughout her career Bley has thought of herself as a writer first, once describing herself as 99 percent composer and one percent pianist.

In 1964 she was involved in organising the Jazz Composers Guild which brought together the most innovative musicians in New York at the time. She then had a personal and professional relationship with Michael Mantler, with whom she had a daughter, Karen, now also a musician in her own right. Bley and Mantler were married from 1965-91. 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 followed with WATT Records, which has issued their recordings exclusively since the early 1970s. 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 has collaborated with a number of other artists, including Jack Bruce, Robert Wyatt and Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason, whose 1981 solo album Nick Mason's Fictitious Sports was entirely written by Bley and performed by her regular band, making it in effect a Carla Bley album in all but name. She arranged and composed music for Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra, and wrote A Genuine Tong Funeral for Gary Burton. Her arrangement of the score for Federico Fellini's 8½ appeared on Hal Willner's Nino Rota tribute record, Amarcord Nino Rota. She contributed to other Willner projects, including the song "Misterioso" for the tribute to Thelonious Monk entitled That's the Way I Feel Now, which included Johnny Griffin on tenor saxophone, and the Willner-directed tribute to Kurt Weill, entitled Lost in the Stars, where she and her band contributed an arrangement of the title track, with Phil Woods on alto saxophone. In the late 1980s, she also performed with Anton Fier's Golden Palominos and played on their 1985 album, Visions of Excess.

She has continued to record frequently with her own big band, which has included Blood, Sweat and Tears' notable Lew Soloff, and a number of smaller ensembles, notably the Lost Chords. Her current partner, the bassist Steve Swallow, has been her closest and most consistent musical associate in recent years and the two have recorded several duet albums. In 1997, a live version of Escalator over the Hill (re-orchestrated by Jeff Friedman) was performed for the first time in Cologne, Germany; in 1998 Escalator toured Europe, and another live performance took place in May 2006 in Essen, Germany.

In 2005 she arranged the music for and performed on Charlie Haden's latest Liberation Music Orchestra tour and recording, Not in Our Name. She lives in Woodstock, New York."

Steve Slagle is an American saxophonist, flutist, composer, and educator known for his lyrical tone and sophisticated harmonic sense across post-bop and modern jazz contexts. A longtime member of the Mingus Big Band, he has collaborated with artists such as Carla Bley, Charlie Haden, and Dave Holland, while leading his own ensembles that blend structured composition with fluid improvisation.

Victor Lewis is a highly respected American jazz drummer, composer, and bandleader whose versatile and deeply rooted playing has made him a mainstay in modern jazz since the 1970s. He has performed with Woody Shaw, Stan Getz, Dexter Gordon, and the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, and is known for his dynamic swing, compositional insight, and influential work as both a sideman and leader.

"Steve Swallow has long been many jazz critics' favorite electric bassist: rather than playing his instrument in a rock-oriented manner, Swallow emphasizes the high notes and, to an extent, approaches the electric bass as if it were a guitar. He originally started on piano and trumpet before settling on the acoustic bass as a teenager. Swallow joined the Paul Bley trio in 1960 and with Bley was part of an avant-garde version of the Jimmy Giuffre 3 during 1960-1962. Swallow recorded with George Russell and was a member of Art Farmer's quartet (1962-1965), Stan Getz's band (1965-1967), and an important edition of Gary Burton's quartet (1967-1970). The latter group (starting with the addition of guitarist Larry Coryell) was actually one of the first fusion groups, and it was during that time that Swallow began playing electric bass; within a few years, he stopped playing acoustic altogether. Swallow spent a few years in the early '70s living in northern California, during which time he mostly played locally. After the late '70s, he was closely associated with Carla Bley's groups, although he occasionally worked on other projects (including a reunion of the Jimmy Giuffre 3). Swallow has also proved to be a talented composer with "Eiderdown," "Falling Grace," "General Mojo's Well Laid Plan," and "Hotel Hello" among his better-known pieces. The 21st century saw the release of several Swallow sets, including Damaged in Transit (2003), Histoire Du Clochard: The Bum's Tale (2004), and an intriguing set with poet Robert Creeley, So There (2006). Hotel Hello appeared in 2007, followed by Believe in Spring, a collection of standards with Hans Ulrik and Jonas Johansen issued on the Stunt label, and Carla's Christmas Carols in 2008. In 2010, he recorded IS with trumpeter Tore Johanson for the Inner Ear label. Swallow formed We3 along with Adam Nussbaum and David Leibman; they recorded Amazing in 2011. In 2012, he and drummer Joey Barron played in Steve Kuhn's trio for the recording of Wisteria on ECM. It was a busy year for the bassist: he also recorded another duet offering, The Agnostic Chant Book, with reed and woodwind master Jonas Schoen. He led his own quintet for Into the Woodwork, which was issued on Xtra WATT, in June of 2013, and shared triple-billing with Carla Bley and Andy Sheppard on Trios, which was released in September of that year. In 2016, Swallow once again joined Bley and Sheppard for Andando el Tiempo."

"Vincent Chancey - French Horn and Composer

Over the past 25 years I have built a solid reputation as an accomplished and totally dedicated french horn player, performing in a wide variety of musical contexts, and as an increasingly active composer. My first instrument as a member of the junior high school band was the cornet and later the trumpet and fluglehorn. But after hearing the french horn during rehearsals I felt a strong affinity for that instrument and was happily able to make the change. Simultaniously with my band experience in high school, I was first active in Giles Yellow Jackets and later the St. Andrews Hornets and the DesPlaines Vanguard competitive drum & bugle corps. Through high school and college, I lived a kind of musical schizophrenia, studying and playing classical music, but listening to and loving jazz. Continuing in that direction for some time, I finally decided that I needed some instruction on how to approach jazz on this instrument.

Upon graduation from the Southern Illinois University School of Music, I moved to New York to seek out and study with the long-time pioneering jazz french hornist Julius Watkins. I was able to win a N.E.A. grant to begin this study program. After several years of instruction and hard practice, I first came to prominence as a regular member of the Sun Ra Arkestra from 1976 to 1978. After that I worked sporadically for Sun Ra, making a number of recordings with the ensemble, and then worked for six years with the Carla Bley Band. In 1984, I joined Lester Bowie's Brass Fantasy and have been featured on all of the group's nine recordings. For many years, I have also been part of the David Murray Big Band in which I am featured on five CD's. I have been able to employ my talent playing with Chick Corea, Cassandra Wilson, Shirley Horn, Randy Weston, The Gil Evans Orchestra and The Mingus Orchestra. In the Contemporary Classical idiom , I have worked with Guus Janssen on varied projects in The Netherlands. I have also performed with popular artists such as Ashford and Simpson, Melba Moore, Peggy Lee, Maxwell, Aretha Franklin, Freddy Jackson, The Winans, Elvis Costello, Brandy, Charlie Haden Liberation Orchestra, Dave Douglas, singer Diana Krall and many more. In 2000 I had the honor of playing a performance for Pope John Paul II's 80th birthday concert.

I have recorded as a sideman with various artist on more than 150 albums, CD's and soundtracks. Eventually I came to the point that many musicians reach when they feel the need for more personal creative expression. I began writing music that could best express myself and my instrument. I felt that no one was writing for the french horn the way I knew it could be played. Several bands were put together over many years, which lead to my first CD. This recording entitled "Welcome Mr. Chancey" was released in 1993 on In + Out Records. A quartet was featured on this album using electric guitar, bass and drums. I enjoyed working with this group, but felt that I wanted to do something closer to the music that I had always listened to as a developing jazz musician, classic jazz. I started first by composing music that I thought worked with the way I liked to play my instrument. Soon after I was asked to do a CD of music commemorating my jazz horn teacher, Julius Watkins and his group, The Jazz Modes. In 1996 I recorded my second CD "Vincent Chancey and Next Mode" on DIW records. This one featured a Quintet with tenor saxophone, piano, bass, and drums.

The french horn is my natural voice. Throughout my career I have been devoted to the idea of achieving wider recognition for the horn as a jazz instrument and I have constantly sought to increase the capability of the instrument and overcome the inherent problems of adapting it to the vocabulary of jazz."

Ted Saunders is an American pianist and composer recognized for his expressive touch and wide-ranging stylistic fluency, spanning post-bop, free jazz, and contemporary improvisation. He has worked with artists including Charles Mingus, Archie Shepp, and Carla Bley, contributing a sensitive yet adventurous approach to ensemble and solo performance.

Tony Dagradi is an American saxophonist and clarinetist associated with the New Orleans creative music scene, known for his exploratory approach to improvisation and composition. His work bridges jazz, contemporary classical, and experimental traditions, and he has performed with ensembles such as Astral Project while pursuing innovative solo and collaborative projects.

Gary Valente is an American trombonist known for his powerful tone and expressive range within avant-garde and big band settings. A longtime collaborator with Carla Bley and the Jazz Composer's Orchestra, he has also worked with Liberation Music Orchestra and other forward-thinking ensembles, bringing a bold, highly articulate voice to modern jazz performance.

"Michael Mantler was born in 1943 in Vienna, Austria, where he studied trumpet and musicology at the Academy of Music and Vienna University. In 1962 he went to the USA to continue his studies at the Berklee School. He moved to New York two years later, playing trumpet with Cecil Taylor, among others. During that period, as a founding member of the Jazz Composer's Guild, he formed a large jazz orchestra with Carla Bley. He recorded his Jazz Composer's Orchestra album in 1968 and appeared as trumpet player on Carla Bley's Escalator Over The Hill.

In 1973, he started WATT Works, a record label devoted to his and Carla Bley's music. Rarely appearing live, except with the Carla Bley Band, he recorded a series of albums for the label: No Answer (set to the words of Samuel Beckett, sung by Jack Bruce),13 (for two orchestras and piano), The Hapless Child (with words by Edward Gorey, featuring Robert Wyatt), Silence (based on the Harold Pinter play), Movies (with Larry Coryell and Tony Williams), More Movies (with Philippe Catherine), Something There (with Mike Stern, Pink Floyd's Nick Mason and the strings of the London Symphony Orchestra), Alien (with Don Preston), Live, and Many Have No Speech (based on the poetry of Samuel Beckett, Ernst Meister and Philippe Soupault).

In 1991 he returned to live in Europe. Recording now for ECM, he released Folly Seeing All This (featuring the Balanescu String Quartet and including a setting of Samuel Beckett's last poem, sung by Jack Bruce), Cerco Un Paese Innocente (with singer Mona Larsen interpreting texts by Giuseppe Ungaretti), The School of Understanding (with Jack Bruce, Robert Wyatt, Mona Larsen, Don Preston, John Greaves, Per Jørgensen, Susi Hyldgaard, and Karen Mantler), the orchestral work One Symphony (paired with Songs, again featuring Mona Larsen), Hide And Seek (an album of songs with words by Paul Auster, for chamber orchestra and the voices of Robert Wyatt and Susi Hyldgaard), the anthology Review (Recordings 1968 - 2000), Concertos (featuring soloists Bjarne Roupé, Bob Rockwell, Roswell Rudd, Pedro Carneiro, Majella Stockhausen, Nick Mason, and Mantler himself on trumpet), For Two, (duets for guitarist Bjarne Roupé and pianist Per Salo) and The Jazz Composer's Orchestra Update.

In recognition of his life's work he received several awards, including, among others, the Austrian State Prize for Improvised Music and the Music Prize of the City of Vienna. His subsequent work, Comment c'est (How It Is), a song cycle for voice and chamber orchestra (with his own texts, featuring Himiko Paganotti) was followed by his latest album, CODA - Orchestra Suites (reinterpretations of older works for large orchestra), as well as a series of print editions (including engraved scores of selected recorded work from a 50-year period)."

"Over the last 40 years Bob Stewart has established himself as both an innovative tuba player and equally creative jazz educator. In addition to embracing the tuba's historical position as the original bass instrument in jazz, Mr. Stewart's focus on reintroducing the Tuba into a contemporary band setting has encouraged many tuba players and band leaders to explore this approach.

As a band leader, recording artist, and featured soloist Mr. Stewart's playing has been featured on over 80 recordings. He has performed and recorded with such luminaries as Gil Evans, Dizzy Gillespie, McCoy Tyner, Charlie Haden, Sonny Rollins, Charles Mingus, Carla Bley, Wynton Marsalis, Jason Moran, Lester Bowie, Muhal Richard Abrams, Henry Threadgill, Arthur Blythe, Jimmy Heath, Frank Foster, David Murray, Chaka Khan, Dap Kings, Aretha Franklin to name a few.

With decades of experience in public education Mr. Stewart now also works with Jazz at Lincoln Center as an educational consultant, advisor to the Rhythm Road project, and has helped to create the curriculum for the Middle School Jazz Academy. Another highlight from Mr. Stewart's distinguished educational career includes winning the nationally-renowned Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition while directing The LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts & Music and Art Jazz Ensemble.

Bob has also been honored to serve as a panelist for the New York State Council of the Arts, worked as a consultant for JazzMobile, and was a clinician for the Louis Armstrong Summer Jazz Camp in New Orleans. He has appeared in Ken Burns' "Jazz" series and was the subject of an award-winning, feature-length documentary entitled "Jazz on a Winter's Day" and is a Grammy-Nominated Tubist . While concertizing and touring both in the United States and internationally, Bob Stewart maintains a faculty position as professor of Jazz History at The Juilliard School. In 2012, Mr. Stewart established "The Annual Bob Stewart Tuba Competition" to inspire tuba players to lead their own ensembles helping to establish new tuba repertoire."