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I told Marilyn
Crispell at dinner

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last night that three
years ago, when I first

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contacted her to
invite her to perform

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in Tucson with another poet,
I was sort of stepping out

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of the world of
poetry where I always

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felt very comfortable
calling and inviting people

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to come here--

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and was somewhat
intimidated that I

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was stepping into
a different world

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and inviting one of my heroes.

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As a listener to jazz
since I was a teenager,

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and as a listener to Marilyn
Crispell for nearly 30 years

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now, I have been serenaded,
surprised, stunned, delighted,

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and transported.

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Marilyn Crispell selected
discography online runs

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to more than 50 albums, and
her complete sessionography,

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which was compiled
by Rick Lopez,

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goes on for pages and pages.

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She has played
with groups headed

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by Anthony Braxton, Reggie
Workman, Scott Fields, Barry

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Guy--

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and many, many more.

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And has issued more than 20
works either on solo piano

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or as leader herself.

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Some of the highlights to me
are Vignettes, Storyteller

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with Mark Helias
and Paul Motian,

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Affinities with Gerry Hemingway,
Live in Berlin, The Marilyn

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Crispell Trio.

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To me, it all seems a highlight.

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And "it all" is a lot.

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She has said that
listening to John Coltrane

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made her a jazz
musician, and she

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carries on a questing musical
practice that connects her

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to his searching work.

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I spoke of being inside
Nathaniel Mackey's poems

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earlier and finding all
sorts of connection there.

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This is true as well of
Marilyn Crispell's piano work.

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Yet, I also feel entirely
enclosed while listening

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to this work, as though time
and any thought of outside

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is simply not part
of the equation.

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Yet, when a solo
by her is over, I

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go back into the world alert,
cleared, rearranged, and ready.

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The Canadian poet,
BpNichol, once

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told me of a
medical procedure he

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had had to try to alleviate
pain, in which his molecules

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were realigned as a treatment.

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If it's possible for music
to realign your molecules,

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Marilyn Crispell just might be
the one creating that music.

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Please welcome,
Marilyn Crispell.

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