Lyrical Improv

Marilyn Crispell’s upcoming CD, Vignettes, begins inquisitively. She taps a few notes on the upper register of her piano, as if to test the acoustics of the room or the resonance of the instrument. A few moments later, a note from the lower register hangs in the air. Titled “Vignette I,” it continues in this manner for almost two and a half minutes, as scatters of notes come and go, gaining authority without developing into a bigger structure. Structure isn’t necessary, since this improvisation packs plenty of lyrical power without any need for a theme.

The word “lyrical” keeps recurring in a conversation with Crispell, which makes sense since this quality factors into her music even when she plays high-energy free jazz that bears a direct link to first-generation free pianist Cecil Taylor. Crispell was inspired by Taylor’s groundbreaking approach to the piano, and even received praise from him for her work. Yet Taylor’s unhinged piano work can get under the skin with its percussive technique, while Crispell has never forsaken a lyrical touch, even when she pounds furiously on the keys.

Vignettes, due April 22, is Crispell’s fourth album for ECM, the longstanding German label known equally for experimental jazz and more subdued, largely European approaches to the music. This album finds her playing solo, after three trio releases. It woud be easy to say that with each new release she has toned down her playing, moving away from Taylor-esque eruptions toward a more contemplative side. Of course, that oversimplifies things.

Marilyn Crispell

Crispell says she isn’t moving away from anything. “It’s not like I’ve abandoned what I was doing or who I was before,” she says. “I’ve just opened doors to lyricism that were partially opened before, but not as wide-open as they are now.”

She goes on to explain that her approach has evolved over the years since she abandoned classical music at age 28 for improvised music. “I did some lyrical things, like some Coltrane tunes,” she says of her early work. “But I felt like I was focused on that energy, and the lyrical thing was a more recent awakening. It’s like adding color to what’s already there. It’s not like I’ve suddenly switched gears. I’m very into the energy of the music and intensity.”

Crispell’s musical course changed after hearing John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme. A graduate of the New England Conservatory, she was playing contemporary classical music up to that point. Cecil Taylor’s work also confirmed ideas she had about incorporating atonality into improvisation. “I hadn’t heard anyone do it and it didn’t seem to work,” she says. “Then I heard Cecil and it was a revelation: Oh, it does work.”

Taylor, a notoriously tough nut to crack, encouraged Crispell after hearing her, predicting she would “spearhead a new lyricism in jazz.”

Another groundbreaking bandleader, saxophonist Anthony Braxton, helped raise Crispell’s profile when he brought her into his quartet in 1978. The group lasted 15 years, through numerous performances and releases of Braxton’s adventurous compositions, titled with unique illustrations and methods that drew on all aspects of the players’ abilities. “It was a tremendous musical experience that I miss,” Crispell says. “I learned about composition, space, ensemble, everything really. When we were together and playing, we’d be very much like a family.”

Throughout this time, she has also managed to build up a long list of recordings as a leader or co-leader, showing off her musical imagination. Her ECM releases began in 1997 with a two-disc set of compositions by Annette Peacock, a vocalist/keyboardist who describes her own work as “free form songs.” Her next two albums showcased Crispell’s writing as well as that of trio-mates, drummer Paul Motian and bassists Gary Peacock (on Amaryllis) and Mark Helias (on Storyteller).

It was on these albums that the pianist’s more languid style began to take the spotlight. Part of this was inspired by Crispell hearing music by Scandinavian jazz musicians in the early 1990s. The incorporation of their native music and improvisation made her consider what was missing in her work. “It’s very mystical,” she says of that country’s traditional music. “It can be very lyrical and beautiful, and very wild with some of the singing in it.”

For Vignettes, her first solo disc for the label, she wanted to make sure the recording sounding honest with no extraneous elements. Only four of the 17 tracks are composed pieces. The rest are improvisations, some with themes that developed in performances and others, like the previously mentioned “Vignette I” coming out of the air and taking shape as the recording was made. Pieces like “Valse Triste” or “Gathering Light” have a very warm quality, a result of both Crispell’s technique and the production work by ECM figurehead Manfred Eicher. At the same time, anyone looking for the pianist’s pointillistic side still gets a taste of it in the double shot of “Axis” and “Vignette VI” two-thirds of the way through the album.

Many adventurous improvisers like Crispell often find greater recognition and more work in Europe. She frequently travels abroad for performances, but says that the amount and location of work fluctuates with each year. She adds that American listeners respond just as enthusiastically as those overseas. “People often ask me about audiences in American versus audiences in Europe. I always tell them that the audiences in America are great; very, very receptive,” Crispell says. “It’s just that they don’t have much opportunity to hear stuff. Every time I play, there is a lot of enthusiasm and people want to know where they can find the CD. ‘Why can’t you hear more of this music,’ and ‘How come they’ve never heard it before?’”

She once played a duet with drummer Gerry Hemingway in Erie, where a number of teenagers in the audience seemed to relate to the music. “If there were more opportunities for young kids to hear different types of music and be exposed to different types of art and be involved in it themselves, there would be much more of a market for this kind of music,” she says.

Asbury Hall at Babeville, 341 Delaware Avenue (854-1694/hallwalls.org). $15 general admission, $10 members/students/seniors.