Marilyn Crispell
Photo by Michael Patrick Kelly
Bio
Marilyn Crispell has become one of the most original and sought-after avant-garde jazz pianists and composers since emerging on the scene in the late 1970s. Her adventurous and distinctive style was influenced by her first loves in jazz, John Coltrane and Cecil Taylor, but it is a style all her own that continues to grow and expand.
Crispell was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, taking piano lessons at the Peabody Conservatory. She attended and graduated from the New England Conservatory of Music, where she studied classical piano and composition. She studied jazz with Charlie Banacos for two years and befriended saxophonist Charlie Mariano, who suggested she attend the Creative Music Studio in Woodstock, New York (where she has continued to live since). There, she met Anthony Braxton, and by 1978 she was touring Europe as a member of his Creative Music Orchestra and played as a member of his quartet from 1983 to 1995. During this time, she also worked and recorded with the Reggie Workman Ensemble, Barry Guy Orchestra, Roscoe Mitchell, Babatunde Olatunji, and Wadada Leo Smith, among others. Crispell has been a member of Joe Lovano’s Trio Tapestry since 2018.
As a leader, Crispell made her debut in 1982 with Live in Berlin, playing alongside violinist Billy Bang, bassist Peter Kowald, and drummer John Betsch. Besides working as a soloist and leader of her own groups, Crispell has performed and recorded extensively with well-known players on the jazz scene, as well as performing and recording music by contemporary composers such as Robert Cogan, Pozzi Escot, John Cage, Pauline Oliveros, and Manfred Niehaus, and played in the NYC Opera’s production of Anthony Davis’ opera X in 1986. She has also worked with artists outside the music field, collaborating with videographers, filmmakers, dancers, and poets.
In addition to playing, she has taught improvisation workshops and given lecture/demonstrations at universities and art centers in the U.S., Europe, Canada, Argentina, Australia, and New Zealand, as well as the Creative Music Studio. She was the co-director of the Vancouver Creative Music Institute and a faculty member of the Banff Centre's International Workshop in Jazz in 2006.
Crispell has received awards and accolades including several fellowship grants from the New York Foundation for the Arts, a composition commission from the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, and a Guggenheim Fellowship for music composition.
Selected Discography
For Coltrane, Leo Records, 1987
Anthony Braxton/Marilyn Crispell, Vancouver Duets (1989), Music & Arts, 1989
Play Braxton, Tzadik Records, 2010
With Grace in Mind, Fundacja Słuchaj, 2021
Our Daily Bread, ECM, 2022
It is a great and unexpected honor to be included in the 2025 class of Jazz Masters, to have my contributions to the music recognized in this way. I owe a great deal to those who have inspired and mentored me on my journey through the music and hope to continue growing on the path of creativity and connection through this powerful, beautiful, universal language.