European Tour 1977

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Recorded in a Berlin studio, this CD commemorates Carla Bley's first regular working band, a 10-piece group that could move with ease from rich chords and brassy splendor to pointed satire. It mixes New York jazz veterans--such as trombonist Roswell Rudd and drummer Andrew Cyrille--with rocker Terry Adams from NRBQ on piano, Soft Machine members Hugh Hopper on bass and Elton Dean on alto, and the soul of the band, British tenor player Gary Windo. "Rose and Sad Song" reveals Bley's development of a distinctive harmonic language in the traditional big-band idiom, while "Wrong Key Donkey" develops turbulence with layered rhythms. The final, 19-minute "Star Spangled Minor..." is a collage of national anthems transposed into minor keys and mixed with many of Bley's earlier compositions. "King Korn," "Ida Lupino," and "The New National Anthem" collide with funhouse-mirror versions of Deutschland über Alles and La Marseillaise, along with some manic free-jazz soloing, all ending with "The Colonel Bogey March." --Stuart Broomer

European Tour 1977,Carla Bley,Ecm Records,Jazz,Pop

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