Broadcast on 25-Aug-2008

Carla Bley has had one of the most interesting and varied careers in Jazz and improvised music.Composer, pianist, arranger and band leader, Bley was born in Oakland, California on May 11,1938. Ms.Bley is still very much with us and a vital force in music, playing duets with her present partner, electric bass virtuoso Steve Swallow and leading her band and playing her highly original music. Carla's influences are Jazz, classical, Latin and European cabaret music(think Weill and Brecht) all rolled into her own concept. Quirky and humerous and always interesting, her ideas are reflected on our Jazz Feature tonight, performed by her band, a nonet. The album was recorded for her own label, Watt, and it's called 'Social Studies'....it is one of her classics and one of her very best.