Carla Bley: I wish I had been an ice skater or something with a little more class, you know, but the roller rink was one block away, and that's just what I fell into doing. And they had an organ player, a live organ player, and I got to, you know, skate freestyle and express myself like any 14-year-old loves to do.
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Nick Spitzer: Where does music first come into your life?
CB: Oh, I guess I was born into a musical family. My father was a piano teacher, so it sort of came with the territory. So, I played just shortly after I could walk.
NS: And you, you played with your fingers, you're not talking about walking across the keyboard?
CB: No, I played with my fists. My first concert was on the black keys with my fists, “Three Blind Mice.”
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NS: What is it that got you to leave California and move to the East Coast?
CB: Music of course. I mean, I think I did it a couple of times. First time I did it on my own because I just wanted to hear Miles Davis live. In fact, I've been to every state in the union in a car. You would have to wonder where you were gonna eat and then find a cheap motel to sleep in. It would real- sometimes sleep in the car or bathe in the river, you know, it's a very exciting thing, traveling. I still love it.
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NS: I know you need to get to New York, but getting there sounds like it was a blast.
CB: It was. I went immediately to the Cafe Bohemia without even sleeping first and heard Miles Davis just like I had planned and was as thrilled as I thought I would be. Next day I got a job at Birdland as a cigarette girl with a tray around my neck selling cigarettes and got to hear everybody for a couple of years, and that was my education and, and I got paid for it.
NS: And did you sell a lot of cigarettes?
CB: No, every time someone asked for a pack, I would just say, "Wait 'til the tune is over."
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CB: Then I moved from Birdland to the Jazz Gallery downtown where I worked in the cloakroom. So, that was not as good because I couldn't stand in front of the bandstand getting coats.
NS: What about that downtown scene in the Village? Mingus and your ex, Paul Bley, was in his band at one point.
CB: Yeah, I went there every night when Paul was in the band, and I just sat really close and listened. You know, I really do think that's the best way to learn music. You don't have to go to school, just listen to the music.
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NS: Why is it, do you think you have become a writer of music, and an arranger, and somebody that leads these big bands? Was this a plan?
CB: No, I just can't think fast enough. I like to take a long time. If I'm playing a solo, I say, "Oh, I think maybe I'll play..." and then the chorus is over, and I really am not fast enough to be a good player. Slow thinker.
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NS: How do you approach actually composing and writing something down? I mean, how do you actually start? I mean, is there a, you know, a pen and an ink well? A computer? How do you go about this?
CB: You know, it's a feather not a pen.
NS: A feather with a quill on it?
CB: Yeah.
NS: Uh-huh.
CB: No, it's pencil.
NS: A pencil.
CB: Pencil and paper. And then you always, you know, you have to put the paper on the piano, you get a pencil, and then you sit there, and then you put your hands on the piano, and sometimes you get an idea, but sometimes you just hear it in nature, like a bird will give you an idea. On the American album, it was traffic noises on that piece called 'Fast Lane'. I was just trying to get honking horns and stuff. You don't have to get ideas; you can just rob the natural world of its ideas. And then of course you have to make something out of it.
To hear the full program, tune in Saturdays at 5 and Sundays at 6 on WWNO, or listen at americanroutes.org.