Avant-garde composer Carla Bley, who wrote Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason‘s 1981 album “Fictitious Sports,” died Oct. 17. She was 87.
A prominent figure in the “free jazz” movement of the 1960s, the California-native released more than two dozen albums from 1966 to 2019.
She might best be known for her jazz opera “Escalator Over the Hill” (1973). Originally released on three LPs, it featured Jack Bruce of Cream and vocals by Linda Ronstadt. Melody Maker magazine named it Album of the Year.
Her collaboration with Mason easily could have been called “Carla Bley’s Fictitious Sports.” It was she who wrote all of the album’s numbers, played keyboards throughout and co-produced the effort with Mason. But as a member of the Floyd, Mason was guaranteed a hefty advance for any solo album, perhaps one reason his name graced the cover.
Bley was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2018. She succumbed to the illness at her home in Willow, N.Y., outside Woodstock. “Fictitious Sports” had been recorded at Bley’s Grog Kill Studio in that home’s basement in October ’79.
Photo: Carla Bley conducts her band at the Pori Jazz Festival in Finland, July 1978.
