Carla Bley - Live in Montreal - Universal/Music/DVD

01 Opening Instrumental
02 The Lord Is Listening To You
03 Heavy Heart
04 Walking Battery Woman
05 Caucasian Bird Riffles
06 Ups And Downs
07 The Lone Arranger
08 Battleship

One of the most notable composers/performers on the contempory jazz scene, Carla Bley begins this July 1983 concert with the hymnlike "The Lord Is Listening To You". An appropriate beginning, since Bley's musical life began under the tutelige of her church-organist father. From there, via another halfdozen original compositions, she provides a demonstration of her knack for mixing old and new, Europe and America, abstract and highly melodic jazz, into a package that couldn't be anyone else's. The melancholy title tune from the band's "Heavy Heart" is here, along with her offbeat sense of humour, introduced as "a traditional tale from the Far West". The band, all heavy-hitters, includes a young Joe Lovano.