Carla Bley, Andy Sheppard, Steve Swallow Andando el Tiempo album review

Over a career that spans six decades, composer and pianist Carla Bley has guarded her independence jealously, running her own recording sessions and releasing the results on her own Watt label.

But three years ago, she recorded for ECM and mustn't have entirely hated the experience because here she is again, with her long-standing trio of saxophonist Andy Sheppard and bassist Steve Swallow, under producer Manfred Eicher's forensic eye.

Andando el Tiempo is a three part suite about recovery from addiction, and further proof of Bley’s originality as a composer.

But it is Bley the pianist who seems particularly liberated by the different arrangement, and the playing – from a woman who once described herself as 1 per cent player, 99 per cent composer – is moving and starkly lyrical.

[ propermusic.com ]