Carla Bley, 84, is a jazz composer, arranger, pianist and orchestra leader, and winner of the 2015 NEA Jazz Masters award. Her latest album is “Life Goes On” (ECM). In the late 1940s, when I was 13, the older brother of my best friend, Sylvia, took us to see Lionel Hampton at the Oakland Civic Auditorium. He played the vibes, and his big band had a jumping dance beat. I hadn’t heard anything like it before, not even at home on the radio.

Source: Wall Street Journal September 01, 2020 14:48 UTC