Free-jazz pianist/composer Marilyn Crispell discusses her early training in classical music and the profound impact of John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme that led to an eventual transition into free-jazz. During the interview we hear music from three periods of her over fifty year career including Coltrane’s Dear Lord, a trio with Gary Peacock and Paul Motion and finally the latest recording Spi-raling Horn. Marilyn also discusses her esteemed NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship. She has performed and recorded extensively with Joe Lovano’s Trio Tapestry, the Anthony Braxton Quartet, Reggie Workman, Paul Motion, Oliver Lake, Irene Schweizer, Gerry Hemingway, and many other leading improvisors of the past five decades.Kennedy Center Artistic Director for Jazz Jason Moran remarked on Crispell’s incredible musicianship. “Following her playing all these years, watching also then all this kind of incredible lyricism flow from her hands, it’s easy to say that she’s a storyteller, but she also makes peace with the instrument. That’s the kind of piano player she is.”
“Hearing Marilyn Crispell play solo piano is like monitoring an active volcano. She is one of a very few pianists who rise to the challenge of free jazz” The New York Times