Joe Lovano, Marilyn Crispell, Carmen Castaldi - Our Daily Bread

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2023
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 40:52
Size: 94,4 MB
Art: Front

(4:36) 1. All Twelve
(8:42) 2. Grace Notes
(3:44) 3. Le petit opportun
(6:34) 4. Our Daily Bread
(2:31) 5. One for Charlie
(4:41) 6. The Power of Three
(5:50) 7. Rhythm Spirit
(4:09) 8. Crystal Ball

Joe Lovano's 3rd album Trio Tapestry finds the group extending its spacious and lyrical approach with deep listening and intense focus. Marilyn Crispell is the optimal pianist for this music, orchestrating it as it unfolds with a sensibility attuned to both contemporary chamber music and post-Coltrane improvising. Drummer Carmen Castaldi, a Lovano associate since teenage years, embellishes the music with his own poetic touch on cymbals and, like Joe, draws blossoming resonances from gongs.By Editorial Reviews
https://www.amazon.com/Lovano-Marilyn-Crispell-Carmen-Castaldi/dp/B0BXT2NYPW

Personnel: Drums, Gong, Temple Bells – Carmen Castaldi; Piano – Marilyn Crispell; Tenor Saxophone, Tárogató [Tarogato], Gong [Gongs] – Joe Lovano

Our Daily Bread

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Joe Lovano - Trio Tapestry

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2019
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 48:11
Size: 111,5 MB
Art: Front

(3:42)  1. One Time In
(5:13)  2. Seeds Of Change
(3:40)  3. Razzle Dazzle
(4:07)  4. Sparkle Lights
(8:25)  5. Mystic
(3:40)  6. Piano/Drum Episode
(2:01)  7. Gong Episode
(6:18)  8. Rare Beauty
(3:49)  9. Spirit Lake
(4:16) 10. Tarrassa
(2:55) 11. The Smiling Dog

With all tonalities being created equal, on Trio Tapestries, Joe Lovano's first as a leader for ECM and one of the first releases of the label's fiftieth year, silence abides. Both as concept and as actuality, silence lays at the heart of this eleven song lattice. Even the spacing between the tracks hangs appended, allowing the music to arise and fall, like thoughts and non-thoughts amid meditation.  By way of an invocational duet, "One Time In" with its gongs, airy, ghostly cymbals and Lovano's brooding, deep-tone tenor saxophone, welcomes the listener into the deep space that Trio Tapestries becomes. Drummer and teenaged band mate Carmen Castaldi absolutely absorbs the spirit forces at work. Marilyn Crispell's piano, her touch more rounded and yielding than on her most recent trio outing, the often volcanic Dreamstruck (Not Two, 2018) with Harvey Sorgen and Joe Fonda, enters like a guiding dove on the near reverent "Seeds Of Change." Long connected as Crispell and Lovano are by their ties to the late Paul Motian, it's no small wonder they become two seeking, monk-like voices here. No bassist appears on Trio Tapestries and that suits these the trio just fine. Each instrument supplies its own supple bedrock. The impressionist's dream that is "Sparkle Lights" holds the true essence of the sound: three voices, space, and the will, or more likely the absolute human need to listen. "Mystic" highlights Lovano's beloved tarogato, a Hungarian folk instrument used in the past to rally the troops to battle, soars mournful yet blessed over Castaldi's tempered, sustained percussive-rumble. As they appear on several tracks, Chinese gongs have become central to Lovano's writing and questing nature. "Spirit Lake" looks onto some troubled water, reminding us that peace can fall prey to anxious intensity at any given moment. And even if "The Smiling Dog" closes Trio Tapestries on a most song-like note, it doesn't distract from the affirmative, ruminative arc of Lovano's larger, spiritual intent. ~ Mike Jurkovic https://www.allaboutjazz.com/trio-tapestry-joe-lovano-ecm-records-review-by-mike-jurkovic.php

Personnel: Joe Lovano: tenor saxophone, tarogato, gongs; Marilyn Crispell: piano; Carmen Castaldi: drums, percussion.

Trio Tapestry

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Marilyn Crispell & Stefano Maltese with Gioconda Cilio - Blue

Styles: Piano And Saxophone Jazz
Year: 1999
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 65:33
Size: 151,0 MB
Art: Front

(5:14)  1. Breath of Sun
(4:13)  2. Ring Around Circle
(8:18)  3. Roof of Sky
(5:24)  4. A Wind of Roses
(3:53)  5. No Scorpions in Fall
(7:20)  6. Moon-Wheel
(6:29)  7. So Glad to Be Sad
(8:04)  8. You Don't Know What Love Is
(4:22)  9. Behind the Wings
(5:03) 10. Rain Around
(7:09) 11. Burning in the Shade

?Blue is easily the most mysterious and beguiling of pianist Marilyn Crispell's many releases. Recorded in duet with Italian reed and woodwind wizard Stefano Maltese, Crispell recorded 11 spontaneous improvisations, all centered around the notion of color as sound, and placed that supposition in various settings reflected by the individual pieces titles: "Breath of Sun," "Ring Around Circle," "Roof of Sky," "So Glad to Be Sad," etc. There is also a very loose cover of "You Don't Know What Love Is" that fits here perfectly with the way its harmonic and chromatic terrains have been raided for tonal and dynamic nuances. Blue is the opposite of Crispell's fiery, hundred-notes-a-second approach to improvisation and is far closer to the temperament displayed on Amaryllis although there are moments of sublime and intense dissonance such as on "Behind the Wings," which feels like a blue jay in mid-morning ramble and confrontation with everything around him. Maltese's interactions with Crispell are articulated on any number of instruments, including but not limited to soprano, alto, and tenor saxophones, bass clarinet, and flute. His breathing seems to pace the pianist, who moves up and down the middle register looking for sync energy and, once that is found, a kind of melodic frame for certain ideas that have come up during that process. On the final two cuts, the great Italian vocalist Gioconda Cilio joins the duo for worded and wordless improvising that contributes deep, breathy atmospherics that has as much to do with elongating the breath of all the players as it does with tonal inquiries. Through it all, Crispell uses a Zen-like detachment, engaging each player and the music itself openly, but without exuberance, preferring to remain outside its ever widening circle of hues, textures, tempos, whispers, and screams. This is a jazz record that moves the definition of jazz to a margin; which one isn't exactly clear, except to say that it is new and welcome and warm and heartbreakingly, poetically beautiful. ~ Tom Jurek https://www.allmusic.com/album/blue-mw0000042192

Personnel:  Piano – Marilyn Crispell;  Soprano Saxophone, Alto Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone, Bass Clarinet, Flute – Stefano Maltese

Blue

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Marilyn Crispell & Stefano Maltese - Red

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 1999
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 58:30
Size: 134,5 MB
Art: Front

( 5:18)  1. Afternoon Whisper
( 5:12)  2. Across The Ocean
( 6:47)  3. Lost Skies
( 4:58)  4. For These Walls
(11:19)  5. A Star Or Two
( 4:38)  6. Towards Twilight
( 6:33)  7. Stellar Waves
( 7:04)  8. Come Slowly, Day
( 6:36)  9. Faces On Fire

Piano genius Marilyn Crispell teams for a set of duets with the relatively unknown though outrageously talented Sicilian saxophonist and clarinetist Stefano Maltese. This is an interesting mirror in and of itself. Way back in 1989, Anthony Braxton, one of Crispell's contemporary mentors, recorded an album of duets with the pianist, who, at that time, was relatively unknown -- though she was the steady rhythmic force propelling the longest last quartet, or any other band, of Braxton's career. This set is approached from the position of opposites attracting. Maltese has been deeply influenced by the phrasing and lyrical construction no matter which horn he plays by Steve Lacy. On the soprano, it is almost impossible to tell them apart, with the exception of Lacy's slightly longer line. Crispell, who plays percussively, was at the disadvantage here, or so it seemed. These duets are such a departure for her, her playing moves into a range of colors and emotions not usually associated with her. Her approach to counterpoint and harmonic invention here are both lyrical, favoring dynamic, to be experienced by persistence and caution rather than by forcing the music to bend to her will. Here, she is clearly its servant, which coaxes Maltese to look toward overtones as a way to engage the improvisation from within. The compositions are divided equally among them. Maltese provides a reasonable foil for Crispell. She, on the other hand, must have viewed him musically in a much different light because this is her most restrained, graceful, elegant improvising on record. There isn't a moment here that is not, while musically very sophisticated, emotionally very moving. Highly recommended. ~ Thom Jurek https://www.allmusic.com/album/red-mw0000419244

Personnel: Marilyn Crispell (piano); Stefano Maltese (bass clarinet, soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone).

Red

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Marilyn Crispell - Santuerio

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 1993
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 68:49
Size: 161,9 MB
Art: Front

( 6:10)  1. Entrances of Light
(10:32)  2. Air - Fire
( 2:57)  3. Water
( 5:01)  4. Burning Air - Wood
(13:24)  5. Santuerio
( 9:32)  6. Repercussions of Light
(13:44)  7. Red Shift
( 7:25)  8. Repercussions of Air I & II

For this recording, pianist Marilyn Crispell both debuted a new quartet and embarked on a somewhat different path from her previous outings and, certainly, from her long tenure with Anthony Braxton. Pulling in violinist Mark Feldman and cellist Hank Roberts (along with longtime compadre Gerry Hemingway), her music, here essentially an eight-part suite, took on a more elegiac, overtly spiritual tone. The pieces are draped around the loosest of thematic materials, the musicians instead using the wisps of ideas to gently launch into introspective investigations, occasionally coalescing into brief, more frenzied bouts, but generally remaining in a pensive state. The title track begins with a long, intricate percussion solo from Hemingway before falling into a choppy, awkward series of overlapping written lines where Crispell's angular attack (by this point far beyond the early Cecil Taylor comparisons) is set against Feldman's pining cries. Little by little, the piece works up quite a head of steam, the disjunctive rhythms beginning to mesh quite intriguingly toward the end. "Repercussions of Light," a duo between a superbly romantic Feldman and Hemingway's soft backing, is arguably the highlight of the disc, a fine composition that straddles the boundary between the ethereal and the earthy. Crispell takes off on the next track, "Red Shift," leading the quartet through the disc's most intense playing, creating a swirling cauldron of activity. Santuerio closes in the same ghostly manner as it had begun, with quivering violin over hushed, delicate piano. Overall, it's an impressive achievement, showing a new side of this fascinating musician. ~ Brian Olewnick https://www.allmusic.com/album/santuerio-mw0000066453 

Personnel:  Piano, Producer, Composed By – Marilyn Crispel;  Cello – Hank Roberts;  Drums – Gerry Hemingwayl;  Violin – Mark Feldman

Santuerio

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Gary Peacock & Marilyn Crispell - Azure

Styles: Piano Jazz, Post Bop
Year: 2011
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 59:11
Size: 135,8 MB
Art: Front

(7:16)  1. Patterns
(6:18)  2. Goodbye
(5:47)  3. Leapfrog
(3:08)  4. Bass Solo
(9:23)  5. Waltz After David M
(6:38)  6. Lullaby
(2:44)  7. The Lea
(5:42)  8. Blue
(2:27)  9. Piano Solo
(3:40) 10. Puppets
(6:03) 11. Azure

Who leads a project is often nothing more than a matter of optics. Bassist Gary Peacock's name may come first on the cover of Azure, but there's no doubt that this is a collaborative affair, with pianist Marilyn Crispell an equal participant; the two even co-produced the recording, with label head Manfred Eicher nowhere to be found. Peacock and Crispell have worked as a duo for years, in addition to delivering two sublime trio recordings for the label with the sadly departed Paul Motian: the pianist's ECM debut, 1997's Nothing Ever Was, Anyway, and the even more impressive Amaryllis (2002). Still, even those recordings were shared affairs, with compositional contributions from all three on Amaryllis (Nothing Ever Was paid tribute to the music of pianist/singer Annette Peacock). Azure, however, represents the first time the work of this longstanding duo has been documented. Some have suggested that Crispell's more aggressive pre-ECM stance is evidence of artistic constraint by the label, but Azure proves nothing could be further from the truth. Peacock's discography as a leader/co-leader for the label including his landmark Voices from the Past Paradigm (1982) and duo date with guitarist Ralph Towner, A Closer View (1998) demonstrates his love of space, decay and melody. It also suggests a penchant for unfettered freedom, which nevertheless eschews aggression, instead occupying a sparer place where silence is an equal partner. That is no surprise, really, given Peacock and Crispell's shared connection in Buddhism and meditation. 

Crispell's ECM output has, indeed, been similarly predisposed towards the quieter end of the spectrum, but on recordings like One Dark Night I Left My Silent House, her completely improvised 2010 duo recording with clarinetist David Rothenberg, the pianist made clear that oblique strategies remain an essential part of her vernacular. As they do for Peacock. He may spend some of his time mining the Great American Songbook with Keith Jarrett and Jack DeJohnette recently on Somewhere (ECM, 2013) but at the end of the day it's all part of the same continuum; it's all just music. Here, the duo opens with Crispell's aptly named "Patterns," its series of knotty thematic constructs played with temporal flexibility by the pianist (in impressive unison, with both hands), acting as a foundation for some jerky interactions with Peacock, but four songs later her "Waltz After Dave M" explores melody in a most personal way; more clearly structured, it shows Crispell and Peacock at their most eminently lyrical and unashamedly beautiful. Peacock's tone is warmer than usual, and on his abstract "Puppets," he delivers a rare arco solo, reaching for the outer edges and pushing through them to a more rarefied space; still, as esoteric as his playing might seem, there's always an inner logic and unerring focus. Peacock returns to pizzicato on the closing title track, one of three completely free improvisations. Paradoxical in its combination of hovering stasis and forward motion, it feels both as structured and thoroughly open as all of Azure's eleven tracks. A long time coming, Azure demonstrates, with pristine clarity and utter transparency, a unique partnership now finally unveiled for a larger audience on the year's most superb and revealing duo recording. ~ John Kelman https://www.allaboutjazz.com/azure-gary-peacock-ecm-records-review-by-john-kelman.php

Personnel: Marilyn Crispell: piano; Gary Peacock: double bass.

Azure

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