Carla Bley

I got started when I was 3 years old because my father was a music teacher and my lessons were free. Instead of learning to walk, you learn to play the piano. ”

It would be really hard to get serious about anything political today unless it was a joke. ”

When you have 13 horns, and one is soloing, you have 12 people to play the richest, fullest chord you could ever imagine behind that solo. ”

When Ronald Reagan was elected I was on a bus traveling with a band in France. I wrote a little arrangement of The Star Spangled Banner in a minor key. ”

I like chords that are very lush with all the lush parts taken out. ”

Living composers writing for big band are very few and far between. There are not a lot of them, and I have a talent for doing it. I am zeroing in on what I do best. ”

There are times when what's happening in rock is the best music in the world, and there are times when there is nothing worthwhile at all. ”