Cardenas, Allison & Nash capture the healing power of the blues

Carla Bley first drew notice with the song-form compositions she wrote at the start of the 1960s. Recorded by others — Bley was yet to launch her career as a pianist — their wry humour and clear lines were then a class apart. Large-scale projects followed, notably Charlie Haden’s album The Liberation Music Orchestra and the collaborative Escalator Over the Hill. From the mid-1970s, she was an established pianist-bandleader exploring texture and style with a unique surreal touch.

Healing Power: the Music of Carla Bley captures that pithy aesthetic and melodic flair through intimate chamber jazz. The trio of guitarist Steve Cardenas, bassist Ben Allison and Ted Nash doubling on saxophones and clarinet have performed intermittently since 2011, and their close accord is evident.

The first four tracks present compositions from Bley’s early career. They find her sketching strong moods with minimalist lines and her core approach clearly defined. They also reveal the influences behind this sympathetic trio’s approach — the sharp avant-garde angles of “Ictus” were recorded in 1961 by reeds-man Jimmy Giuffre, whose work is a model for the trio’s chamber jazz. In contrast, the twisty theme of “Donkey”, recorded by Don Ellis in 1962, lays bare Bley’s deep jazz roots as it unfolds over 12-bar blues.

The other two songs were first recorded three years later by her ex-husband, pianist Paul Bley, confirming the emotional scope of her early work. The poignant set opener, “Ida Lupino”, written to celebrate a powerful woman in 1950s Hollywood, delivers tensile inner strength; “And Now the Queen” is a brief fanfare flourish.

The album then brings vividly to life the character of Bley’s later work with sharply drawn themes and delicate ensemble work. The gentle “Lawns” is beautifully realised by a hint of vibrato on tenor sax; “Ad Infinitum” never resolves; and the trio capture in full the playful bite of the often-covered “King Korn”.

The album ends with the title track, the trio relaxed, engaged and steeped in the healing power of the blues.

★★★★☆

‘Healing Power: the Music of Carla Bley’ is released by Sunnyside