The American composer, arranger and pianist Carla Bley has died. She was 87.

A pioneering figure in the free jazz movement of the 1960s, Bley is best known for her freewheeling jazz opera Escalator over the Hill and a book of compositions that have been performed by artists including Gary Burton, Jimmy Giuffre, George Russell, Art Farmer, John Scofield, and her ex-husband Paul Bley.

Carla Bley. Photo Wikimedia Commons

Christened Lovella May Borg, she was born in Oakland, California, in 1936. Her father was a piano teacher and church choirmaster. Her mother died when Lovella was eight years old. She encountered jazz as a 12-year-old, in a concert by the vibraphone star Lionel Hampton.

Rebelling against her church upbringing, Lovella moved to New York at 17 and became a cigarette girl at Birdland, where she met jazz pianist Paul Bley. She toured with him under the name Karen Borg, changed her name in 1957 to Carla Borg and married Paul Bley the same year. She used her married name professionally after the couple divorced in 1967.

In 1964, she was involved in organising the Jazz Composers Guild, which brought together the most innovative musicians in New York. She then had...