4x4 (Carla Bley album)
4 x 4 is an album by American composer, bandleader and keyboardist Carla Bley with a chamber ensemble recorded in Oslo in 1999 and released on the Watt/ECM label in 2000.[1][2]
| 4 x 4 | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 2000 | |||
| Recorded | July 1999 | |||
| Genre | Jazz | |||
| Label | Watt/ECM | |||
| Producer | Carla Bley & Steve Swallow | |||
| Carla Bley chronology | ||||
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Reception
The Allmusic review by David R. Adler awarded the album 3 stars and stated "This batch of compositions is informed by Bley's distinctive brand of tongue-in-cheek playfulness... While the entire eight-piece band is consistently a pleasure, some of the album's most appealing moments occur during several Bley/Swallow duet passages. The two have been performing and recording as a duo for many years, so in a certain sense the whole band seems to revolve around them".[3] The JazzTimes review by Aaron Steinberg said "Between gigs, the ruddy and no doubt road weary outfit took a time-out in Oslo to record 4 x 4. Bley and the band sound happy to have the time to themselves, and they mostly take it easy on light-hearted tunes with fun but simple arrangements".[4] The Penguin Guide to Jazz awarded it 3⅓ stars stating "with music as impressive and as ambitious as this, who's complaining? "[5]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
| Penguin Guide to Jazz |  |
| Tom Hull | B+ ( |
Track listing
All tracks are written by Carla Bley.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Blues in 12 Bars / Blues in 12 Other Bars" | 14:32 |
| 2. | "Sidewinders in Paradise" | 8:36 |
| 3. | "Les Trois Lagons (d'apres Henri Matisse): Plate XVII/Plate XVIII/Plate XIX" | 15:37 |
| 4. | "Baseball" | 7:48 |
| 5. | "Útviklingssang" | 9:18 |
- Recorded at Rainbow Studio, Oslo in July 1999.
Personnel
- Carla Bley – piano
- Lew Soloff – trumpet
- Wolfgang Puschnig – alto saxophone
- Andy Sheppard – tenor saxophone
- Gary Valente – trombone
- Larry Goldings – organ
- Steve Swallow – bass guitar
- Victor Lewis – drums
References
- Carla Bley discography accessed August 12, 2010
- ECM/WATT discography Archived 2016-09-16 at the Wayback Machine accessed August 25, 2016
- Adler, D. R. Allmusic Review accessed August 12, 2010
- Steinberg, A. 4 x 4 Review Archived 2012-10-03 at the Wayback Machine JazzTimes, April, 2001
- Cook, Richard; Brian Morton (2006) [1992]. The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings. The Penguin Guide to Jazz (8th ed.). New York: Penguin. pp. 131. ISBN 0-14-102327-9.
- Hull, Tom (28 February 2018). "Streamnotes". Tom Hull – on the Web. Retrieved 9 July 2020.