Marilyn Crispell & Joëlle Léandre

(US/FRA)
free jazz

“Hearing Marilyn Crispell playing solo piano is like monitoring an active volcano. She is one of the very few pianists, who can rise to the challenge of free jazz”, says the NY Times. With the

similarly creative French upright bass player/singer beside her, this duo live is like witnessing two active volcanoes simultaneously.

On top of her solo works – the latest being last year’s Vignettes on ECM – Crispell has toured and recorded extensively with the Anthony Braxton Quartet, the Reggie Workman

Ensemble, the Barry Guy New Orchestra, the London Jazz Composers Orchestra, Anders Jormin Quintet and Quartet Noir. She cites John Coltrane and Cecil Taylor as her main inspirations.

Double bassist, composer and singer Joëlle Léandre has performed with composer Pierre Boulez’s Ensemble InterContemporain and worked with John Cage and Merce Cunningham. Cage and

Giacinto Scelsi have composed works especially for her. Léandre’s solo performances and records are much celebrated in the new music circles, as is her contribution to Quartet Noir with

Crispell, Urs Leimgruber and Fritz Hauser. She has collaborated with many avant-icons, like Derek Bailey, Evan Parker, Susie Ibarra and Fred Frith.

As a special guest, Léandre also plays with the Free Tallinn Trio.