Marilyn Crispell

Pianist, composer

Marilyn Crispell is considered by many critics to be one of the most accomplished pianists in the free jazz movement since Cecil Taylor. Free jazz began in the late 1950s as a response by musicians to the perceived structural limitations of such preceding jazz movements as bebop, hard bop, fusion, ragtime, and swing. While sometimes resulting in music that is considered atonal or avant-garde, free jazz often relies heavily on improvisation that at times veers distinctly away from the established tempo and melody of a given musical piece after the musicians establish the identity of the song. Among the groundbreaking pianists in the free jazz realm is Cecil Taylor, whom Crispell openly acknowledges as a key inspiration for her own playing.

Crispell was born March 30, 1947 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her father, Milton A. Braune, was a claims adjuster for the Social Security Administration and her mother, Frances, was a housewife. In an interview with Contemporary Musicians, Crispell related a youth saturated in music: "My earliest musical memories are playing a toy xylophone (which inspired my parents to give me piano lessons) and listening to my parents' records (popular tunes of the day and classical music) and children's records. The tunes I seem to remember most from that time are one about an ugly duckling, ‘O My Papa,’ and ‘Buttons and Bows’—also the Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff piano concertos. How any of these ultimately influenced my music is left to your imagination!"

Crispell studied piano, theory, and composition at the Peabody Music School in Baltimore, Maryland, from 1957 to 1964. She continued her education at the New England Conservatory of Music, where she earned a Bachelor's degree in 1968. She married Gareth Crispell in 1967, and ceased her musical ambitions until her divorced in 1972. In 1975, she studied privately with Charlie Banacos in Boston, Massachusetts. She subsequently studied at the Creative Music Studio in Woodstock, New York, from 1977 to 1982. She met musical firebrand Anthony Braxton in the mid-1970s, and toured Europe as a member of the avant-garde maestro's Creative Music Orchestra in 1978. She continued to tour and record with Braxton into the 1990s while leading several groups of her own, playing solo, and performing with such groups as the Reggie Workman Ensemble, Quartet Noir, London Jazz Composers Orchestra, Barry Guy New Orchestra, and many other groups.

Her 15-year stint with the Anthony Braxton Quartet ended in 1993, but not before she was exposed to a worldwide group of musicians eager to work with her. Beginning in 1992, she began performing with Scandinavian jazz musicians. "In 1992, I went to Scandinavia for the first time, to play in a Stockholm festival called ‘Solo 92,’" she stated in an ECM press release. "Also there was the bass player Anders Jormin. All along, in the context of my solo music, I'd also been playing various ballads, though the primary focus of my music was energy and intensity. When I heard Anders, his playing touched a chord in me that resonated strongly." This musical epiphany led to the emergence of a distinctive lyricism to her compositional and improvisational playing. "I loved the way the Scandinavian jazz players used elements of their own folk music in their improvisations, and loved their aesthetic of space, beauty, and tenderness. Somehow, this was the missing element in my own music, and by absorbing it, I felt that my music was becoming more whole—not changing so much as expanding, to include more of everything that I felt and wanted to express."

In 1996, Crispell approached the famous European jazz label ECM to record Nothing Ever Was, Anyway, which featured compositions by Annette Peacock. "I originally contacted ECM when I had the idea to do the trio recording of Annette Peacock's music," she told an interviewer for Contemporary Musicians. "Of course I had been familiar with the label for a long time, and had a great appreciation for the quality of the music they put out, and the beauty of the sound." The album was produced by ECM founder and house producer Manfred Eicher. "Working with Manfred is great," Crispell said in her interview. "He is very involved in the music, has a great ear, and has very good ideas, both musically and also in how he orders the pieces. He's really part of the recording, not just a producer sitting on the sidelines."

Discussing the difference between studio and live recording, Crispell told Contemporary Musicians: "Most of my recordings prior the ones for ECM were live recordings. My only regret is that sometimes the compositions weren't played properly, and if they had been studio recordings, it would have been possible to go back and correct them. That said, I'm still very happy with most of the recordings I've done. Of course, my playing and my concepts have gone through many changes since I first began recording, so I would no longer play now exactly how I played then, although I think there's a definite continuity."

After recording two more titles for ECM, 2001's Amaryllis, with Gary Peacock on bass and Paul Motian on drums, and 2004's Storyteller, with Motian and Mark Helias, Crispell pursued the solo performance route on the 2008 release, Vignettes. "I wanted this to be a recording that was thoroughly authentic in feeling," she said in a record label press release. "Very pared down, with nothing superfluous in it, and at the same time music that was from the heart….I wanted instead focused energy, where every note and sound and silence has some purpose." To further explain her intent, Crispell employed an analogy: "I was recently reading a book about Chinese five-element acupuncture theory, which suggested that in times of chaos and transition you shouldn't try and force change, but rather get to a quiet place where you can allow transformation to manifest itself. A lot of my experience with ECM has been like that, allowing a musical direction to emerge rather than artificially forcing it."

For the Record …

Born Marilyn Braune, March 30, 1947, daughter of Milton A. (a Social Security claims adjuster) and Frances (a housewife) Braune; married Gareth Crispell, 1967 (divorced 1972); no children. Education: Peabody Conservatory, Baltimore, Maryland, 1957-1964; Peabody Junior Conservatory Camp, Lyndonville, Vermont, 1960-1964; Bachelor of Music degree, New England Conservatory of Music, Boston, Massachusetts, 1968; Studies with Charlie Banacos, Boston, Massachusetts, 1975-1977; Creative Music Studio, Woodstock, New York, 1977-1982.

Joined Anthony Braxton's Creative Music Orchestra, 1978; recorded ECM debut, Nothing Ever Was, Anyway, 1997; performed at Victoriaville 2000 free jazz festival; released Amaryllis, 2001; released Vignettes, 2008.

Addresses: Home—Marilyn Crispell, P.O. Box 499; Woodstock, NY 12498, phone: 845-679-5753, email: MarilynCrispell@hotmail.com.

Selected discography

With Anthony Braxton

Live in Vancouver, Music and Arts, 1990.

Quartet Willisau, Hat Art, 1991.

Prag, Sound Aspects, 1990.

Quartet Birmingham, Leo Records, 1991.

Anthony Braxton Quartet (Victoriaville), Les Disques Victo, 1993.

Anthony Braxton Quartet: Twelve Compositions (Oakland, July 1993), Music and Arts, 1994.

Anthony Braxton Creative Orchestra (Koln), Hat Art, 1995.

Anthony Braxton Quartet (Quartet), Santa Cruz 1993, Hat Art, 1997.

With the Reggie Workman Ensemble

Synthesis, Leo Records, 1987.

Images, Music and Arts, 1990.

Altered Spaces, Leo Records, 1993.

With the London Jazz Composers Orchestra and the Barry Guy New Orchestra

Double Trouble Two, Intakt, 1998.

Three Pieces for Orchestra, Intakt, 1997.

Inscape Tableaux, Intakt, 2001.

Solo

Santuerio, Leo Records, 1993.

Stellar Pulsations, Leo Records, 1994.

Destiny, Okka Disk, 1994.

Spring Tour, Alice, 1995.

The Woodstock Concert, Music and Arts, 1995.

Spring Tour, Alice, 1995.

gryffgryffgryffs, Music and Arts, 1997.

Nothing Ever Was, Anyway, ECM, 1997.

Quartet Noir, Les Disques Victo, 1999.

After Appleby, Leo Records, 2000.

Poetic Justice, DaCapo, 2001.

Odyssey, Intakt, 2001.

Amaryllis, ECM, 2001.

Breaking the Wheel of Life and Death, Anami, 2001.

Red, Black Saint, 2001.

Complicite, Les Disques Victo, 2001.

Storyteller, ECM, 2004.

In Winds, In Light, ECM, 2004.

Ithaka, Intakt, 2004.

Pola, Les Disques Victo, 2005.

Shifting Grace, CAMJAZZ, 2006.

Phases of the Night, Intakt, 2008.

The Stone Quartet, DMG/ARC, 2008.

Vignettes, ECM, 2008.

Sources

The sources for this entry are a May 2008 interview with Marilyn Crispell and the ECM press kit for Vignettes.

—Bruce Walker