Marilyn Crispell

The pianist Marilyn Crispell works in jazz and improvised music. Crispell started out in classical music, but when she heard Coltrane’s spiritual suite A Love Supreme, she experienced an epiphany that led her to jazz. A member of Anthony Braxton’s classic quartet in the 1980s, Crispell has established herself since then as one of the most lyrical and introspective voices in avant-garde jazz, especially in her work on ECM records. In our conversation, Marilyn spoke to me about her childhood in Baltimore, the revelation she had listening to A Love Supreme, her work with Braxton and the ECM producer Manfred Eicher, and the restorative effects of contemplation and silence on her art.

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