Gary Peacock & Marilyn Crispell
Release Date: 17 June 2013
Label: ECM Records
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 602537088690
Genres: Jazz Contemporary
Description
Azure features beautiful duets by two great improvisers whose compatibility was proven long ago. Gary Peacock and Marilyn Crispell made outstanding music together in Marilyn's trio with the late Paul Motian on ECM albums including Nothing ever was, anyway and Amaryllis - each a modern classic - but their duo project also has an extensive history, until now undocumented on disc. With their shared sense of lyricism, their individual compositional styles and their profound background in free playing, Peacock and Crispell are exceptional musical partners.
The album contains pieces written by both Peacock and Crispell, and highly inventive, utterly absorbing piano and bass solos. Highlights range from the sublimely melodic (the Peacock-penned "Lullaby") and lyrically pensive (Crispell's "Goodbye") to the athletically bracing (Crispell's "Patterns") and folksong-like (Peacock's moving "The Lea"). Then there are the duo's freely improvised pieces of astonishing cohesiveness, including "Blue", "Leapfrog" and the entrancing title track, "Azure". That was named by Crispell, coming from "the sense of spaciousness I felt with the music," she says. "The image of an open blue sea or sky came to me."
Azure was recorded in upstate New York, home territory for both musicians. Along with their shared geography and longstanding musical ties, Crispell and Peacock have in common a certain life rhythm. "We have a connection via meditation and Buddhism," the pianist points out. "We have even meditated together while on tour."
Personnel: Marilyn Crispell (piano), Gary Peacock (double bass)
Tracklisting
Zehetmair Quartett
Meredith Monk; Ellen Fisher; Katie Geissinger; Joanna Lynn-Jacobs; Allison Sniffin; John Hollenbeck
Sokratis Sinopoulos; Yann Keerim
Steve Tibbetts; Marc Anderson; J.T. Bates
Tord Gustavsen; Harald Johnsen; Jarle Vespestad
Wolfgang Muthspiel; Scott Colley; Brian Blade
Maxim Rysanov; Dasol Kim; Roman Mints; Kristina Blaumane; BBC Concert Orchestra; Dobrinka Tabakova
John Taylor; Marc Johnson; Joey Baron
Lafayette Harris Jr.
Brandon Sanders
Joe Locke & Phil Markowitz
Ensemble Fur Neue Musik Zurich
Rebecca Trescher
Lennart Ginman, Thomas Blachman & Carsten Dahl
Doug Raney Quartet
Nigel Price Organ Trio
