Good evening.
Charlie Parker once said there's is no boundary to art.
Marilyn Crispell is a pianist, an improviser, a composer.
She's a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music,
where she studied classical piano and composition.
After discovering jazz through the music of John Coltrane,
Cecil Taylor, and other contemporary musicians,
she began to create music of extraordinary range.
For 10 years, she was active in the legendary Anthony Braxton
Quartet.
In addition, she was a member of the Reggie Workman Ensemble,
Barry Guy New Orchestra and his trio,
a member of the Henry Grimes Trio, and Quartet Noir.
In 2006, she was co-director of the Vancouver Creative Music
Institute and a faculty member at the Banff Centre
International Workshop in Jazz.
She has played with an extraordinary roster of artists
involved in new music of all kinds,
including people like Pauline Oliveros and Anthony Davis.
Marilyn has also collaborated with videographers, filmmakers,
dancers, and poets, as you will hear tonight.
She has given lecture demonstrations
in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and all
over Europe.
Marilyn has been the recipient of three New York Foundation
for the Arts fellowship grants, a Mary Flagler Cary Charitable
Trust composition commission, and a Guggenheim Fellowship.
In 1996, she was given an Outstanding Alumni Award
by the New England Conservatory.
And in 2004, was cited as being one
of their 100 most outstanding alumnae of the past 100 years.
Among her recordings, the album Nothing
Ever Was, Anyway, featuring the music of Annette Peacock,
is widely regarded as a classic and expanded the audience
for her music.
So many of us look forward to whatever is the next Marilyn
Crispell recording.
The recent solo piano Vignettes, also on the ECM label,
is a treasure.
She has made an instructional video DVD, A Pianist's Guide
to Free Improvisation, Keys to Unlocking Your Creativity.
One quality I admire about Marilyn Crispell's music
is that I have no expectations.
Unlike pianists whose work has predictable pleasures
or structures, every performance of hers is unique.
She is a creative force in music today.
The last time I heard Marilyn play solo piano
was in San Francisco.
I was with two friends, one with a background in jazz
and the other who knew only classical music.
Both were ecstatic after the concert.
You're in for a treat.
Please welcome Marilyn Crispell.
[APPLAUSE]