Carla Bley - Live In Montreal (Montreal Jazz Festival)

One of the most notable composers/performers on the contemporary 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 tutelage of her church-organist father. From there, via another half-dozen 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. Tracks: The Lord Is Listening to You, Heavy Heart, Walking Battery Woman, Heavy Heart, Caucasian Bird Riffles, Ups and Downs, The Lone Arranger, Battleship.