This inevitably led to the trio recording Somewhere Else: West Side Story Songs later that year.

Nash thought it would be fitting to perform music from West Side Story to commemorate the centennial of Leonard Bernstein’s birth. In early 2018, by way of an invitation to Ted Nash, the trio performed in Cuba. In 2015, Allison was invited to record an album for Newvelle Records and thought it was good timing to document the trio’s repertoire of Hall and Giuffre, which led to the release of Quiet Revolution. The trio also found further inspiration in the Jimmy Giuffre drummer-less trio that featured Hall. After a very inspiring performance, the three of them continued to perform on occasion nationally and internationally. Allison thought it would be a nice opportunity to explore the music of the legendary guitarist Jim Hall with Cardenas and Nash. The collective trio of Cardenas, Allison, and Nash came together in 2011 when Allison was invited to play a concert in upstate New York. The result was several tours and a record (Into The Woodwork) thus further solidifying Cardenas’s musical relationship with Bley and Swallow. Cardenas went on to join bassist Steve Swallow’s Quintet in 2009, with Bley playing organ in the group. Cardenas toured that summer with LMO and appeared on the group’s 2005 release, Not In Our Name. In 2004, Cardenas was invited by Charlie Haden to join the newly reformed Liberation Music Orchestra when Goodrick, who had been in the group since 1982, had stopped touring a few years earlier. Goodrick’s beautiful solo on Bley’s “Vox Humana” left a lasting impression on Cardenas which then led him to explore Bley’s music from the recordings of Paul Bley, Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra and on to her avant-pop recordings of the 1980s. Having had first-hand experience playing with Carla Bley in two groups, guitarist Steve Cardenas and his trio mates bassist Ben Allison and reed master Ted Nash, have created a brilliant recording of nine Bley pieces on their new album, Healing Power.Ĭardenas was first introduced to the music of Carla Bley as a teenager when he heard Gary Burton’s Dreams So Real, which featured guitar icons Mick Goodrick and Pat Metheny.

She has not only performed her unique compositions in her own star-studded bands but has had them canonized by such legendary artists as Gary Burton and Paul Bley. The singular catalog of the great pianist/composer Carla Bley has been celebrated and performed for decades.

Carla bley lawn