Looking for America (album)

Looking for America
Studio album by Carla Bley
Released	2003
Recorded	October 7–8, 2002
Genre	Jazz
Label	Watt/ECM
Producer	Steve Swallow
Carla Bley chronology
4 x 4 (1999) Looking for America (2003) The Lost Chords (2003)

Looking for America is an album by American composer, bandleader and keyboardist Carla Bley recorded in 2002 and released on the Watt/ECM label in 2003. ^{[1] [2]}

Reception

The Allmusic review by Thom Jurek awarded the album 4 stars and stated "Looking for America is a fun, innovative, and indefatigable album by one of the true geniuses in modern jazz". ^[3] The JazzTimes review by Harvey Siders said "Inevitably, sardonic wit pervades her search on Looking for America as fragments of "The Star-Spangled Banner" materialize-dreamlike, impressionistically and, above all, whimsically-throughout the CD". ^[4] The Penguin Guide to Jazz awarded it 3⅓ stars stating "As an exploration of Americana, this is a fine and fun album". ^[5]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[3]
Penguin Guide to Jazz	[5]

Track listing

All compositions by Carla Bley except where noted.

1. "Grand Mother" - 0:53
2. "The National Anthem: OG Can UC?/Flags/Whose Broad Stripes?/Anthem/Keep It Spangled" - 21:49
3. "Step Mother" - 3:18
4. "Fast Lane" - 5:17
5. "Los Cocineros" - 10:57
6. "Your Mother" - 1:41
7. "Tijuana Traffic" - 8:05
8. "God Mother" - 1:27
9. "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" (Traditional) - 6:15

• Recorded at Avatar Studios, New York, NY on October 7 & 8, 2002.

Personnel

• Carla Bley - piano, conductor
• Earl Gardner, Lew Soloff, Byron Stripling, Giampaolo Casati - trumpet
• Robert Routch - french horn (tracks 1, 3, 6 & 8)
• Jim Pugh, Gary Valente, Dave Bargeron - trombone
• David Taylor - bass trombone
• Lawrence Feldman - alto saxophone, soprano saxophone, flute
• Wolfgang Puschnig - alto saxophone, flute
• Andy Sheppard - tenor saxophone
• Gary Smulyan - baritone saxophone
• Karen Mantler - organ, glockenspiel
• Steve Swallow - bass guitar
• Billy Drummond - drums
• Don Alias - percussion

References

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. Jurek, T. Allmusic Review accessed August 12, 2010
4. Siders, H. Looking for America Review JazzTimes , June, 2003
5. 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.