Guy Lochhead, 02/12/12
Self-taught American jazz composer. Growing up in a musical household, she wrote her first opera aged 8. Her work is often highly conceptual, mixing parodies of contemporary jazz trends with opera theatrics and an avant-garde approach to arrangement. At first, she wrote pieces for other people, but she later composed on her own and with her first husband, Paul Bley. She is probably best known for her 1971 double-LP concept album ‘Escalator Over The Hill’. Although Bley is a fascinating and idiosyncratic artist, and I’m quite a fan, I don’t think her work has been wide-ranging enough in its scope or ambition to be included here. It is fantastic though, and she’s a very exciting performer to watch.