Amaryllis [Import]

Marilyn Crispell | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 22, 2001)
• Original Release Date: 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Ecm Import
• ASIN: B00005A7CY
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #41,039 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Patient Exploration of Inner Space, May 23, 2001

By 

Stephen Silberman "writer, Wired Magazine" (SF, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Amaryllis (Audio CD)

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.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exquisite modern jazz piano trio., December 15, 2003

By 

Lord Chimp (Monkey World) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Amaryllis (Audio CD)

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.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Non-dogmatic jazz innovation, November 12, 2001

By 

Dirk Hugo (Cape Town, South Africa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Amaryllis (Audio CD)

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.