From naked bridges
Diving brides relax
In freefaii fistfuls
Of sparkling albumen
Notes from the composer:
The three parts of "Andando el Tiempo" represent stages of recovery from addiction. "Sin Fin" is the realization that the endless cycle of medication required to stay free from anxiety and pain is becoming insufferable. "Potacion de Guaya"is the ongoing sorrow felt by everyone affected. "Camino al Volver" is the work of returning to a healthy and sustainable life.
It was written as I watched a friend go through the condition and come out the other end.
"Saints Alive!"was an expression used by old ladies sitting on the porch in the cool of the evening when they exchanged especially juicy gossip.
The title "Naked Bridges/Diving Brides" refers to Peking Widow. a poem by Paul Haines. The piece was commissioned by Serious as part of the EFG London Jazz Festival 21st birthday. I wrote it, with a little help from Felix Mendelssohn, as a wedding present for Andy Sheppard and his new bride, Sara.
Recorded November 2015
Auditorio Stelio Molo RSI, Lugano
Engineer: Stefano Amerio
Photos: Caterina di Perri
Design: Sascha Kleis
Produced by Manfred Eicher
An ECM Production
In collaboration with RSI Rete Due, Lugano
Thanks to Paolo Keller
©©2016 ECM Records GmbH Postfach 600331,81203 Munchen
www.ecmrecords.com
https://www.discogs.com/Carla-Bley-Andy-Sheppard-Steve-Swallow-Andando-El-Tiempo/release/8845017
=======================================================
Andando el Tiempo features new music of wide emotional compass by Carla Bley, and underlines her originality and resourcefulness as a jazz composer. “Saints Alive!” sets up animated conversations between the participants with striking statements from Steve Swallow’s bass guitar and Andy Sheppard’s soprano sax. The stately “Naked Bridges/Diving Brides” draws inspiration from Mendelssohn and the poetry of Paul Haines. And the powerful three part title composition – which addresses the trials and tribulations of recovery from addiction - moves through sorrow to hopefulness and joy. The trio with Sheppard and Swallow has been an ideal vehicle for Carla’s writing for more than 20 years and also provides one of the best contexts for her unique piano playing. Like the critically lauded ECM album Trios (2012), Andando el Tiempo was recorded at Lugano’s RSI Studio and produced by Manfred Eicher.
In time for Carla Bley’s 80th birthday on May 11, here is a new album by her outstanding trio with Andy Sheppard and Steve Swallow. This particular trio, in existence now for more than twenty years, has come to be the primary vehicle for conveying her compositions to the world. It’s a challenging task: “When I write for the trio,” Carla explained to the Detroit Metro-Times recently, “it’s really big band music reduced. I have to play way over my head and so do the guys. They have to take on a lot more than they would if I still had a big band.”
For listeners, one of the great pleasures of Carla’s small group work is hearing more of her unique piano playing. Where she once insisted that she was “one per cent player and ninety-nine per cent composer,” she allows that in recent years the player has been obliged to gain ground, inspired by the examples of Sheppard and Swallow. The subtle interaction of the players is well-served by the clarity of this new recording, and all three of them shine here – Carla with her spare, thoughtful playing, Swallow with his perfectly poised and elegant electric bass, Sheppard with his poignant saxophones.
A special event in its own right, Andando el Tiempo can also be considered a companion volume to 2013’s Trios album, described by All About Jazz as “the most perfect of chamber records, filled with shrewd surprises and a delicate dramaturgy that reveals itself further with each and every listen.” Trios marked the first occasion on which the independently-minded Bley had worked under the direction of a recording producer, and Manfred Eicher, Carla, Steve Swallow and Andy Sheppard returned to Lugano’s RSI Studio in November 2015 for the new recording. Where Trios revisited older pieces, Andando el Tiempo features all new music of wide emotional compass, and underlines Bley’s undimmed originality and resourcefulness as a jazz composer.
Tough as it is to believe Carla Bley is now 80 years old, it’s not hard at all to hear that her questing spirit is undiminished on this album of new work. With saxophonist Andy Sheppard and bassist Steve swallow – her go-to musical partners of 20 years – by her side, Bley continues to navigate through knotty chord structures, explore the elasticity of time and tease out the nuanceds of her own compositions, which seem at first to be pure products of the cerebrum but soon reveal a tremendous depth of feeling.
Mac Randall, Jazz Times
https://www.ecmrecords.com/catalogue/1461050419/andando-el-tiempo-carla-bley-andy...rd-steve-swallow
