On November 21, 2011, we published Carla Bley, the latest edition in our American Composers series.  Author Amy Beal has received praise from a variety of review outlets for capturing Bley’s life and career in a compact volume.

“Beal . . . expertly contextualizes Bley’s career within the landscapes of emergent avant-garde, free jazz, and experimental music while also exploring her creative relationships with the legendary Steve Swallow, Charlie Haden, and others. . . . Readers and researchers interested in women composers, American music history, music theory, or jazz from 1950 to the present will find this book invaluable.”–Library Journal

“Beal could have easily written a biography three or four times longer than the present volume. But it would be a mistake to consider Carla Bley something of a half-loaf, as it is more than enough to set the record straight.”–The Wire

“Beal’s prose is often lyrical and always dynamic, she instantly finds the appropriate pacing for the narrative and, just as quickly, demonstrates deep knowledge of and affection for her subject.”–Popmatters

“Carla Bley is a marvel of concision, packing biography, musicology and cogent, descriptive analysis of her major work in barely 100 pages.”–Shepherd Express