Marilyn Crispell

"Marilyn Crispell....has been one of the most deliciously unpredictable and distinctive piano improvisers in jazz for more than four decades."
Peter Margasak, The Chicago Reader

"....extraordinary depths of spirituality and complexity."
Lloyd Peterson, All About Jazz

"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."
Jon Pareles, N.Y. Times

"Ms Crispell has created a rich personal expression that is breathtaking in its originality and visceral energy."
Amy Duncan, Christian Science Monitor

"one of the most remarkable pianists in the jazz-and-beyond realm"
Derk Richardson, Piano and Keyboard

"seeing and hearing Crispell play live is a stunning experience.... a passionate motivation that approaches shamanistic spirituality."
"labyrinthine structures held together by a deeply personal logic"
"one of the most technically brilliant, imaginative and impassioned contemporary musicians now expanding the expressive potential of the piano."
Derk Richardson, The East Bay Express (CA)

"one of the great performer composers at work today. Not only is the music fresh and alive, but its improvisational components hold together more than the music of many composers who write in a similar fashion."
Ear Magazine

"one of a handful of great contemporary improvising musicians"
Larry Kelp, The Tribune (Oakland, CA)

"Her improvisational approach is so personal, so explosive and so devastating that it makes jazz (and most other music) sound like the archaic language of an ancient people. There's also a gentle side that makes even simple melodies seem radiantly beautiful."
Larry Kelp, San Francisco Express

"one of today's most creative players"
"an uncompromising artist who combines spiritual yearning with impassioned attack to create music that transforms the mundane into the ecstatic"
Dan Shimp, Crosswinds (Santa Fe, NM)

"For two decades, Marilyn Crispell has been one of the most highly regarded pianists at the sharp end of contemporary jazz."
John Fordham, The Guardian (London, England)

"one of the most creative forces on the jazz piano"
L.A. Kantner, The Times (Berkeley, CA)

"an introspective improviser almost without parallel"
Jazziz Magazine

"one of the reigning keyboard players in new music"
Bob Blumenthal, The Boston Globe

"the heart of persevering in a world of increasingly chilling effect on the human spirit"
Kevin Lynch, The Capital Times Wisconsin State Journal

"one can't quite believe that she can play so perfectly and still be human" Scott Yanow, Downbeat Magazine

"Crispell is one of the greatest, most profound virtuosos of our time."
Sakari Karttunen, Kaleva (Tampere, Finland)

Record Reviews

About NOTHING EVER WAS, ANYWAY:
"This is one of the lovliest records of piano music ever released on ECM... succeeds at every level. It is a great concept, stunningly played and breathtakingly recorded." (Five stars)
John Corbett, Downbeat Magazine 1/1998

About AMARYLLIS:
"AMARYLLIS is not easy music, but it is certainly not difficult either- it makes a demand on the listener, that he or she truly listen, open up and get involved- a landmark album, up there with Bill Evans's trio sessions from the late 50's." Mark Keresman, Waterfront Week 11/13/01

"the most profoundly beautiful album she has yet released."
"This is certainly one of the great piano trios of today."
Andy Hamilton , The Wire, London. England 4/2001

About NOTHING EVER WAS, ANYWAY and AMARYLLIS:
"Marilyn Crispell has made two of the most beautiful piano trio records in recent memory."
Adam Shatz , N.Y. Times 9/23/01

About STORYTELLER:
"a disc whose beauty and inventiveness are unparalleled"
Terrell Holmes , All About Jazz 4/2004