Carla Bley
Carla Bley (born Lovella May Borg; May 11, 1936 – October 17, 2023) was an American jazz composer, pianist, organist, and bandleader.[2] An important figure in the free jazz movement of the 1960s, she was 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, Robert Wyatt, John Scofield, and her ex-husband Paul Bley. She was a pioneer in the development of independent artist-owned record labels, and recorded over two dozen albums between 1966 and 2019.[3]
Carla Bley
Lovella May Borg
May 11, 1936[1]
Oakland, California, U.S.
October 17, 2023 (aged 87)
Willow, New York, U.S.
Musician, bandleader, composer
Piano, organ
1960–2020
Early life[edit]
Bley was born in Oakland, California, in 1936, to Swedish parents. Her father, Emil Borg, a piano teacher and church choirmaster,[2][4] encouraged her to sing and to learn to play the piano; her mother, Arline Anderson, died of a heart attack when Bley was eight years old.[5] After giving up church to immerse herself in roller skating at the age of fourteen,[6] she moved to New York City at seventeen and became a cigarette girl at Birdland, where she met jazz pianist Paul Bley, who encouraged her to start composing.[1] She toured with him under the name Karen Borg before changing her name in 1957 to Carla Borg. She married Bley and took his name the same year,[7] later divorcing.[8] She kept the surname professionally thereafter.[9]
Awards[edit]
Bley was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1972 for music composition.[19] In 2009, she received the German Jazz Trophy "A Life for Jazz".[20] Bley received the NEA Jazz Masters Award in 2015.[21]