Voice From the Past - Marilyn Crispell, Peacock, Gary
Amaryllis - Marilyn Crispell, Crispell, Marilyn
Requiem - Marilyn Crispell, Peacock, Gary
Conception Vessel/Circle Dance - Marilyn Crispell, Motian, Paul
Voices - Marilyn Crispell, Motian, Paul
December Greenwings - Marilyn Crispell, Peacock, Gary
Silence - Marilyn Crispell, Crispell, Marilyn
M.E. - Marilyn Crispell, Motian, Paul
Rounds - Marilyn Crispell, Crispell, Marilyn
Avatar - Marilyn Crispell, Crispell, Marilyn
Morpion - Marilyn Crispell, Motian, Paul
Prayer - Marilyn Crispell, Weiss, Mitchell
Three-way streets aren't often as alluring as Amaryllis, on which pianist Marilyn Crispell, bassist Gary Peacock, and drummer Paul Motian intersperse pieces freely improvised in the studio with original compositions from t... more »heir illustrious pasts. Following up Nothing Ever Was, Anyway, their revelatory album of Annette Peacock compositions, they continue to spring surprises with their heady romanticism and stylistic escapism. Crispell, who built her reputation as a fire-bringing follower of Cecil Taylor and bandmate of Anthony Braxton, here places beauty before complexity, sculpting elliptical ballads and folk-dance-style tunes into shimmering meditations. Even during its quietest moments, the music is rhythmically alive, propelled by Peacock's seductive pulse and Motian's ever-active, airily aggressive strokes. The album, named after a rare flower, flags a bit around the halfway point, but quickly rallies. This is lovely, stirring, enrapturing music, performed by artists having one of the best conversations of their lives. --Lloyd Sachs« less
Three-way streets aren't often as alluring as Amaryllis, on which pianist Marilyn Crispell, bassist Gary Peacock, and drummer Paul Motian intersperse pieces freely improvised in the studio with original compositions from their illustrious pasts. Following up Nothing Ever Was, Anyway, their revelatory album of Annette Peacock compositions, they continue to spring surprises with their heady romanticism and stylistic escapism. Crispell, who built her reputation as a fire-bringing follower of Cecil Taylor and bandmate of Anthony Braxton, here places beauty before complexity, sculpting elliptical ballads and folk-dance-style tunes into shimmering meditations. Even during its quietest moments, the music is rhythmically alive, propelled by Peacock's seductive pulse and Motian's ever-active, airily aggressive strokes. The album, named after a rare flower, flags a bit around the halfway point, but quickly rallies. This is lovely, stirring, enrapturing music, performed by artists having one of the best conversations of their lives. --Lloyd Sachs
CD Reviews
Patient Exploration of Inner Space
Stephen Silberman | SF, CA USA | 05/23/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Breaking with free-jazz tradition that equates creativity with velocity, pianist Marilyn Crispell carves chords into silence on this trio session with the patient deliberation of a monk planting stones in a Zen garden. The pedigree of her bandmates is impeccable: drummer Paul Motian embarked on his career playing with Bill Evans, and Gary Peacock has held forth in the influential Keith Jarrett Trio since 1977. Majestic and quietly affirming, "Amaryllis" blends Crispell's interpretations of landmark Peacock and Motian tunes "Conception Vessel" and "Voice from the Past" with group improvisations so telepathic they sound composed. Crispell and her bandmates plumb the sacramental stillness of the classic Evans trios with an angularity and poise that is all their own."
Exquisite modern jazz piano trio.
Lord Chimp | Monkey World | 12/16/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"With so many wonderful albums, I think I may be developing a near fanboyish attitude about ECM. This is a haunting, emotional, and spellbinding work of delicacy, sensitivity, and beauty. With my admittedly limited jazz knowledge, I was familiar with the names Gary Peacock and Paul Motian, having some grasp of what they had done in their careers (especially with piano trios). Marilyn Crispell was a new name to me, and I am inexorably bound to say she is a new favorite. Learning that Crispell is a huge admirer of the avant-jazz titan Cecil Taylor suggested to me that this would be more aggressive and 'wild.' While Crispell does display some of Taylor's percussive, scattershot style, she internalizes it with her own feeling of lyricism and effeminate sensuality. Her use of chords is, dare I say, more 'traditional' (in an "out there" kind of way) and emphasizes great space to paint vast canvases of dramatic, soulful lyrical ideas. This is an album of slow, spacious texture, and mood and harmonic interplay are accentuated above other factors. Yet, while highly emotional and stirring, there is not a single moment that is not highly evolved musically. The best of both worlds. The album consists mostly of compositions from the three players, with four slow, exquisite improvisations: the title track, "Voices", "M.E.", and "Avatar". The improvisations, which, in Crispell's words, brought "the revelation of the session," are astoundingly beautiful with a tender poise and exceptional sympathy that belies their improvisational nature. That is a testament to the closely knit telepathic connection of this trio. The bass and drums are not so much complements to Crispell but partners in a creation that relies on all their acumen. Pay close attention to Gary Peacock and Paul Motian. The musical interaction is arrayed for the trio in a way that makes their interplay very complex, balancing at once a two-way response to both the piano and their rhythmic counterpart. Signals are transmitted through the notes and musicians respond with the optimum choices. Of course you know it is beautifully recorded (ECM, remember), so I can say this is pretty much a perfect album. Not a wasted second, not a wasted note. Very highly recommended."
Non-dogmatic jazz innovation
Dirk Hugo | Cape Town, South Africa | 11/12/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Marilyn Crispell has a special talent for creating music that is quintessentially jazz yet liberated from many of the preconceptions and clichés that we have all come to associate with the genre. Her approach is refreshingly bereft of the histrionics and testosterone-soaked "coolness" that even the most seminal of jazz exponents has embraced, leaving space for a sonic canvas where less familiar harmonic and rhythmic perspectives are possible and a decidedly intimate listening space is achieved. The resultant mood sits curiously somewhere between that of the classical piano music of the early 20th century and the more spiritual end of the blues scale. Gary Peacock and Paul Motion are perfect foils for Crispell's sombre yet ebullient focus and their support forms less of a traditionally rhythmic role, rather establishing a throbbing melodic interplay with her piano excursions."
Equal measure piano/bass/drums stunningly recorded
Ian Muldoon | Coffs Harbour, NSW Australia | 05/27/2003
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Stunningly recorded music of two elder statesmen of the jazz piano trio, complemented by a younger lioness with an immaculate pedigree of association with Mr Anthony Braxton et al. Ms Crispell usually has a percusssive approach to the instrument but here her touch brings out the lyrical side of her mastery, as well as her impeccable control of space. If anything, and even though this a democratic meeting of equals, I have to say Mr Peacock has never sounded so ravishing. There are four tracks devoted to "free" playing and eight "composed" one by Mitchell Weiss called Prayer. The clarity of every instrument on this recording is amazing, the piano sings, the drums are crisp but not dry, and the bass full and clear. There seems to be no barrier between the music and the listener. Musically and technically a very satisfying CD of contemporary improvised chamber music. Likely to remain a friend for a long time."
Track Listings (12) - Disc #1