4x4 (Carla Bley album)

4 x 4 is an album by American composer, bandleader and keyboardist Carla Bley with a chamber ensemble recorded in Oslo in 1999 and released on the Watt/ECM label in 2000.[1][2]

4 x 4
Studio album by
Released2000
RecordedJuly 1999
GenreJazz
LabelWatt/ECM
ProducerCarla Bley & Steve Swallow
Carla Bley chronology
Are We There Yet?
(1998)
4 x 4
(2000)
Looking for America
(2002)

Reception

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The Allmusic review by David R. Adler awarded the album 3 stars and stated "This batch of compositions is informed by Bley's distinctive brand of tongue-in-cheek playfulness... While the entire eight-piece band is consistently a pleasure, some of the album's most appealing moments occur during several Bley/Swallow duet passages. The two have been performing and recording as a duo for many years, so in a certain sense the whole band seems to revolve around them".[3] The JazzTimes review by Aaron Steinberg said "Between gigs, the ruddy and no doubt road weary outfit took a time-out in Oslo to record 4 x 4. Bley and the band sound happy to have the time to themselves, and they mostly take it easy on light-hearted tunes with fun but simple arrangements".[4] The Penguin Guide to Jazz awarded it 3+12 stars stating "with music as impressive and as ambitious as this, who's complaining? "[5]

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic     [3]
Penguin Guide to Jazz    [5]
Tom HullB+ ( )[6]

Track listing

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All tracks are written by Carla Bley

No.TitleLength
1."Blues in 12 Bars / Blues in 12 Other Bars"14:32
2."Sidewinders in Paradise"8:36
3."Les Trois Lagons (d'apres Henri Matisse): Plate XVII/Plate XVIII/Plate XIX"15:37
4."Baseball"7:48
5."Útviklingssang"9:18
  • Recorded at Rainbow Studio, Oslo in July 1999.

Personnel

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References

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  1. ^ Carla Bley discography accessed August 12, 2010
  2. ^ ECM/WATT discography Archived 2016-09-16 at the Wayback Machine accessed August 25, 2016
  3. ^ a b Adler, D. R. Allmusic Review accessed August 12, 2010
  4. ^ Steinberg, A. 4 x 4 Review Archived 2012-10-03 at the Wayback Machine JazzTimes, April, 2001
  5. ^ a b Cook, Richard; Brian Morton (2006) [1992]. The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings. The Penguin Guide to Jazz (8th ed.). New York: Penguin. pp. 131. ISBN 0-14-102327-9.
  6. ^ Hull, Tom (28 February 2018). "Streamnotes". Tom Hull – on the Web. Retrieved 9 July 2020.