Customer Reviews

Storyteller

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It's always been my contention that, because the avant-garde typically goes places the traditional musician fears to tread, it has the possibility to produce sounds and moods of striking and unanticipated beauty that more traditional forms of music-making cannot approach, let alone reach.

That certainly is the case with Marilyn Crispell's latest disc, Storyteller.

It is precisely because she has carved out a huge and magnificent presence on the margins of jazz that can she bring back precious gems from its outer reaches.

Sometimes, it seems as if one must simply OCCUPY avant-garde territory, until the absolute right circumstances present themselves. Then, and only then, does the opportunity land on one's doorstep, as it were, to make glorious, absolutely revelatory music.

That's what's happened here, I'm thinking.

It's a case of you can't get there from here. You have to probe, mine, fumble with artistic culs-de sac, until, serendipitously, you're handed the keys to music beyond the ken of ordinary mortals. You get the keys because of your faithfulness and singularity of vision.

Which is what has happened here. If you don't jump to your feet in ecstatic, delirious joy when confronted with this stunning, mesmeric music, you're either aesthetically dead or simply clueless.

Blather about static passages or narrative dry spots simply misses the point.

This disc is beyond praise. It simply IS.

Marilyn Crispell at the absolute of her game. Not to be missed.

If the winds of change are part of the evolution of Jazz, then this album will give you a sense of where the music is at today. Although many young players have fallen into a HardBop loop that seems to go nowhere, modern jazz appears to be headed in a very progressive direction. Minimalism, Classical voiceings, rich color, and emotional expression are all part of this album; simply put its Beautiful Music. Now $20 is an unjustified price for any CD, considering it costs only two dollars or less to manifacture, but this music is just too good to pass up!! Listen to the audio samples and decide for yourself, I think you will agree. Cheers Jazz Lovers- jb.
p.s. Any of Wynton's CDs make Excellent coasters!!

Mayilyn does not hide behind spacial minimalism, but casts shadows of melody and color onto sonic canvas. The interaction and "feeling" on this recording shows what good music can come form a single moment in time. This may sound like rambeling, but if you have heard Paul Motain or Marilyn Crispell live- you know what I'm talking about.

We can only hope to see more of this kind of music as too many young players are still caught up in trying to be John Coltrane or another hard-bop player.

It's always been my contention that, because the avant-garde typically goes places the traditional musician fears to tread, it has the possibility to produce sounds and moods of striking and unanticipated beauty that more traditional forms of music-making cannot approach, let alone reach.

That certainly is the case with Marilyn Crispell's latest disc, Storyteller.

It is precisely because she has carved out a huge and magnificent presence on the margins of jazz that can she bring back precious gems from its outer reaches.

Sometimes, it seems as if one must simply OCCUPY avant-garde territory, until the absolute right circumstances present themselves. Then, and only then, does the opportunity land on one's doorstep, as it were, to make glorious, absolutely revelatory music.

That's what's happened here, I'm thinking.

It's a case of you can't get there from here. You have to probe, mine, fumble with artistic culs-de sac, until, serendipitously, you're handed the keys to music beyond the ken of ordinary mortals. You get the keys because of your faithfulness and singularity of vision.

Which is what has happened here. If you don't jump to your feet in ecstatic, delirious joy when confronted with this stunning, mesmeric music, you're either aesthetically dead or simply clueless.

Blather about static passages or narrative dry spots simply misses the point.

This disc is beyond praise. It simply IS.

Marilyn Crispell at the absolute of her game. Not to be missed.

I'm not sure how to talk about this album without sounding cheesy. But what to say about Marilyn Crispell's most beautiful album on ECM to date? For starters, credit cannot go to Crispell alone, for the other composites of the trio (Mark Helias and Paul Motian) are equally blessed with the same superhuman talent and otherworldly intuition regarding ethereal, crystalline jazzy beauty. First thing of note about the lineup in the trio is that Mark Helias plays double-bass rather than Gary Peacock. Big shoes to fill, but Helias is a magical complement not just on a bass-playing level but as an integrated part of the trio's synergy. (His composed pieces especially show that his mind is on the trio and its essence.) That group interplay is the essence of _Storyteller_, so despite being rapturously lovely and pleasant there is profound musical depth. With the beginning of "Wild Rose", the trio quietly stirs to life, revealing a purity of beautiful creative instinct. "The Storyteller" is curiously "dark", ominous aura punctuated by dry cymbals with the bass weaving about the exotic, melancholy piano, engaging counterpoint and odd accents. Darkness can be beautiful too. "Cosmology I" is quite fast with long chromatic arpeggios splintering through a dexterous web of Helias and Motian. "Play" is very tight, bouncy and jazzy. The pieces are quite moving and progress through evocative measure after evocative measure, constantly building on the lower order perfection before. "So Far, So Near", the closing piece and around nine minutes in length, is especially demonstrative of this. Marilyn Crispell is one of the premiere jazz musicians in the world. You should procure a multitude of her albums, including this one. It's incredible.

This is Crispell's 3rd ECM disc, & it's by some distance her most ECMish: which is to say that the tension & astringency which marked the first two, _Nothing Ever Was Anyway_ & _Amaryllis_, have largely disappeared, & it's instead a languorously pretty album. It's interesting to hear Paul Motian's familiar angular themes for the Motian/Lovano/Frisell trio turned into rhapsodies (a lot of the composition credits go to Motian & bassist Mark Helias), & on the whole I liked this better than I expected, but it does seem like Crispell's crossed a line on this one: unless you're a diehard ECM fan you're likely to find this too precious for words.