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Format Details: 2CD set
Release Date: 24 July 2026
Label: Onj Records / Autre Distribution
Packaging Type: Digipak
No of Units: 2
Barcode: 3521383505328
Genres: Jazz Contemporary
Description
Engaging with Carla Bley's music is never trivial - especially for an institution such as the Orchestre National de Jazz. Through her entire life, Carla Bley (1936 - 2023) took a stand against academicism and conformism, and to this large ensemble (ONJ), engaging with her scores equates to taking an antidote and a hefty dose of vitamins!
With Carla is the inaugural programme of Sylvaine Helary's tenure as Artistic Director of the ONJ (appointed March 2024), conceived together with saxophonist and arranger Remi Sciuto. The album offers a panoramic journey across 12 tracks - from Carla Bley's best-known compositions, through orchestral frescoes, gentle songs and chamber moments, to her most unbridled grooves. The project celebrates an artist whose work transcends the boundaries of the jazz field, blending written and so-called 'popular' music in ways that continue to captivate wide audiences.
Rather than prosaic rewritings, Remi Sciuto's arrangements are extensions - augmentations in which Carla Bley's presence is dual: the textual evocation of her compositions for the pure pleasure of hearing them again, and a 'provocative' spark that ignited Sciuto's imagination and affirmed his own jazzy signature. Led by 17 exceptional soloists including a string quartet, this creation embraces all musical cultures: the spirit of freedom, fantasy and comic power rubbing shoulders with rigor, exacting standards and originality.
"Lightweight mastodon. Sounds like now, maybe even ahead of its time. Multi-genre, intergenerational, inclusive by nature." - Pointbreak
"The spirit of Carla, in sum. An absolute delight." - Jazz Magazine / CultureJazz
Tracklisting
Naissam Jalal
Airelle Besson & Lionel Suarez
Naissam Jalal
Lagon Nwar
Django Reinhardt & Stephane Grappelli
Enrico Pieranunzi & Bebo Ferra
Marc Copland
Orchestre National de Jazz
Various Artists
