Carla Bley

b.: May 11, 1936, in Oakland, California
d.: October 17, 2023, Willow, New York

Carla Bley was born to Swedish parents. Her father, Emil Borg, was a piano teacher and church choirmaster, and he and her mother, Arline Anderson, encouraged her to sing and to learn to play the piano. Her mother, however, died of a heart attack when Bley was eight years old.

She was a jazz composer, pianist, organist, and bandleader, and an important figure in the free jazz movement of the 1960s. Her 1971 "jazz opera" triple LP [i]Escalator Over the Hill[/i] with [a=Paul Haines] (with artists like [a=John McLaughlin], [a=Jack Bruce], American-Swedish [a=Don Cherry], [a=Gato Barbieri] and [a=Linda Ronstadt]), was voted [i]Best Album[/i] by British music weekly [b]Melody Maker[/b]. From the mid 70s and on, she oftened played in Sweden and Finland, at concerts and festivals alike. Carla Bley died October 17, 2023 in Willow, New York.

Mother of .
Married to from 1965 to 1991.
Married to in 1957, later divorced.