Carla Bley

Carla Bley is a musician I have loved and listened to for years, an inspired and unique composer, and a pianist full of surprises. Of course, you can hear some Monk in her love of dissonance and her clumsy playing (on purpose!). But to me there's more: like John Lewis, she seems to try to produce the most effect with the fewest notes possible. She keeps things simple – and always groovy: her rhythmic language is very strong.
I really like her duo albums with Steve Swallow, and her trio albums with Andy Sheppard. Her big band albums are obviously great, but I don't feel like embarking on this kind of transcription…

From Duets, with Steve Swallow (1988):
Romantic Notions #3
This is a weird tune. It starts with dissonant, awkward chords, followed by some solos over those chords (AABB). It's a bit hard to recognize a real theme, there are bits of melody that you hear several times, but I couldn't figure out much more. But anyway, it's a great fun to play!
Edit: I just bought Carla's score for her Romantic Notions, and without surprise I got most of her rhythms wrong… I'll let it this way, because I believe that my version is very readable (if not accurate). If you want to dig in, buy her score on her website!

From Trios, with Andy Sheppard and Steve Swallow (2013):
Vashkar (Video)
This is a catchy piece composed in 6/4, an unusual meter carried by Steve Swallow's groovy bass lines. Dissonances, strange and exotic scales, rhythmic richness: everything we like!