The centerpiece of Appearing Nightly, Carla Bley’s live big band album, is “Appearing Nightly at the Black Orchid.” The 25-minute-long piece is the album in miniature—a smart take on a genre by an artist who’s most at home riffing on genres. It’s often lush and romantic with massed horns playing warm, powerful chords while iconic voices express the melody. Here and throughout the album, standards are quoted in part or inexactly—enough to read “big band,” but not enough to seem like pastiche. The title of another track, “Someone to Watch,” obviously brings “Someone to Watch Over Me” to mind, but the composition swings swiftly, and she does perform a rearranged version of Ray Noble’s “I Hadn’t Anyone Till You.” The reference points animate her imagination though; they don’t substitute for it, nor do they trap her in the big band vocabulary. As always, she borrows from the history of jazz with wit and taste, then trusts strong voices to make the best of solo spots, and they do.