| Amaryllis | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 19 March 2001 [1] | |||
| Recorded | February 2000 [2] | |||
| Studio | Avatar, New York City | |||
| Genre | Avant-garde jazz | |||
| Length | 55:04 | |||
| Label | ECM ECM 1742 | |||
| Producer | Manfred Eicher | |||
| Marilyn Crispell chronology | ||||
| ||||
Amaryllis is an album by American jazz pianist Marilyn Crispell recorded in February 2000 and released on ECM March the following year. The trio features rhythm section Gary Peacock and Paul Motian. [2]
According to Crispell, four of the pieces on the album were improvised. [3] In an interview, she recalled: "The title piece, 'Amaryllis,' sounds completely written, but it's not at all. Gary started a bass line, I came in with something, and we ended up playing the same lines at the same time. That's a very intimate thing. Something that I think is not as easy to pull off in a performance. It can be done, but the intimacy of the recording studio was particularly conducive to complete improvisation." [3]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [4] |
| The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings | [5] |
| Tom Hull – on the Web | B+ [6] |
| The Guardian | [7] |
In an article for The Guardian, John Fordham commented: "Like running into a relative of somebody you know well, this probing set betrays a gesture here, a mannerism there, a certain chime to a laugh or intensity of glance that is at once familiar and new... This set has Crispell investigating a more lyrical and less awesomely pianistic music... Not all the music is reflective... on the fast, liquid 'Rounds' Crispell plays a devastating solo of tidal energies and hurtling precision. Maybe it is too close to contemporary classical music... for some jazz listeners, but this represents the continuing evolution of a remarkable force, in an ideal context." [7]
Writing for The New York Times, Adam Shatz stated: "Amaryllis is less rarefied than her previous record, suffused with a romanticism that Nothing Ever Was, Anyway hinted at but ultimately held in check. It's also a record by a mature woman who knows something of solitude: sorrowful yet finally affirmative, in the way that Joni Mitchell can be." [8]
The authors of the Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings awarded the album 4 stars, calling it "a lovely set, intense and languid by turns and full of wonderful invention," and stated: "The piano tone is gorgeous and Peacock is playing with a fuller voice than ever. A record to absorb yourself in many times over." [5]
The AllMusic review by Thom Jurek awarded the album 4 stars stating: "on Amaryllis, Crispell, Peacock, and Motian have established a new yet authoritative voice in melodic improvisation for the jazz trio." [4]
Gary George Peacock was an American jazz double bassist. He recorded a dozen albums under his own name, and also performed and recorded with major jazz figures such as avant garde saxophonist Albert Ayler, pianists Bill Evans, Paul Bley and Marilyn Crispell, and as a part of Keith Jarrett’s “Standards Trio” with drummer Jack DeJohnette. The trio existed for over thirty years, and recorded over twenty albums together. DeJohnette once stated that he admired Peacock's "sound, choice of notes, and, above all, the buoyancy of his playing." Marilyn Crispell called Peacock a "sensitive musician with a great harmonic sense."
Stephen Paul Motian was an American jazz drummer, percussionist, and composer. Motian played an important role in freeing jazz drummers from strict time-keeping duties.
Marilyn Crispell is an American jazz pianist and composer. Scott Yanow described her as "a powerful player... who has her own way of using space... She is near the top of her field." Jon Pareles of The New York Times wrote: "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." In addition to her own extensive work as a soloist or bandleader, Crispell is also known as a longtime member of saxophonist Anthony Braxton's quartet in the 1980s and '90s.
It Should've Happened a Long Time Ago is an album by the Paul Motian Trio recorded in July 1984 and released on ECM March the following year. The trio features guitarist Bill Frisell and tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano—the three had previously recorded together on Psalm (1982), The Story of Maryam (1984), and Jack of Clubs (1985) in Motian's quintet.
At the Deer Head Inn is a live album by American jazz pianist Keith Jarrett recorded at the Deer Head Inn jazz club on September 16, 1992 and released by ECM in April 1994. The trio features rhythm section Gary Peacock and Paul Motian.
I Have the Room Above Her is an album by jazz drummer Paul Motian recorded in April 2004 released on ECM January the following year. The trio features guitarist Bill Frisell and tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano, their first release since At the Village Vanguard in 1995.
Not Two, Not One is an album by the Canadian jazz pianist Paul Bley recorded in January 1998 and released on ECM February the following year The trio features rhythm section Gary Peacock and Paul Motian.
Nothing Ever Was, Anyway: Music of Annette Peacock is a double album by pianist Marilyn Crispell, bassist Gary Peacock, and drummer Paul Motian recorded in September 1996 and released on ECM the following year.
Vignettes is a solo album by American jazz pianist Marilyn Crispell recorded in April 2007 and released on ECM later that same year.
Storyteller is an album by the Marilyn Crispell Trio, featuring rhythm section Mark Helias and Paul Motian, recorded in February 2003 and released on ECM April the following year.
Lost in a Dream is a live album by jazz drummer Paul Motian, recorded at the Village Vanguard in February 2009 and released on ECM the following year. It features tenor saxophonist Chris Potter and pianist Jason Moran.
Live in Zurich is an album by American jazz pianist Marilyn Crispell, which was recorded in 1989 and released on the English Leo label. It was the second of three concerts which her trio with bassist Reggie Workman and drummer Paul Motian gave in Switzerland.
Gaia is an album by American jazz pianist Marilyn Crispell, which was recorded in 1987 and released on the English Leo label.
This is the discography of American jazz musician Paul Motian.
Garden of Expression is a studio album by American jazz saxophonist Joe Lovano recorded in November 2019 and released on ECM in January 2021. The trio features pianist Marilyn Crispell and percussionist Carmen Castaldi.
Overlapping Hands: Eight Segments is a live album by pianists Marilyn Crispell and Irène Schweizer. It was recorded at the Workshop Freie Musik, Akademie der Künste in Berlin in June 1990, and was released in 1991 by FMP.
Highlights from the Summer of 1992 American Tour is a live album by pianist Marilyn Crispell. It was recorded at four locations in the United States on dates ranging from November 1991 to April 1992, and was released in 1993 by Music & Arts. On the album, Crispell is joined by bassist Reggie Workman and drummer Gerry Hemingway.
Red is a live album by pianist Marilyn Crispell and saxophonist Stefano Maltese. It was recorded at the A.S.A.M. Auditorium in Chiesa di San Pietro, Siracusa, Italy in September 1999, and was released in 2000 by the Black Saint label. The duo, with vocalist Giocondo Cilio, recorded the album Blue the following day.
Azure is an album by bassist Gary Peacock and pianist Marilyn Crispell. It was recorded at Nevessa Production in Saugerties, New York in January and February 2011, and was released on ECM in 2013.
Stellar Pulsations / Three Composers is an album by pianist Marilyn Crispell on which she performs works written for her by composers Robert Cogan, Pozzi Escot, and Manfred Niehaus. The Cogan work, "Costellar Pulsations," features Crispell with a second pianist, Ellen Polansky, and was recorded on February 11, 1992, at Jordan Hall, New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. Escot's piece, "Mirabilis II," was performed by Crispell along with clarinetist Don Byron and drummer Gerry Hemingway, and was recorded on March 26, 1992, at Studio One, WGBH-FM in Boston. "Concerto for Marilyn," the composition by Niehaus, features Crispell as soloist with the WDR Radio Orchestra, conducted by David de Villiers, and was recorded on July 10 and 13, 1992, at the Grosser Sendesaal of WDR Cologne. The album was released in 1994 by Leo Records.