And Your Ivory Voice Sings

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And Your Ivory Voice Sings
Studio album by
Marilyn Crispell and Doug James
Released1985
RecordedMarch 7–9, 1985
VenueWoodstock Recording Studio, Woodstock, N.Y.
GenreFree Jazz
LabelLeo Records
LR 126
ProducerLeo Feigin

And Your Ivory Voice Sings is an album by pianist Marilyn Crispell and drummer Doug James. It was recorded at the Woodstock Recording Studio in Woodstock, N.Y, in March 1985 and was released later that year by Leo Records.[1]

The contents of the album were reissued by the Golden Years Of New Jazz label in 2001 as part of the compilation Selected Works 1983-1986.[2]

Reception[edit]

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[3]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz[4]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music[5]

In a review for AllMusic, Scott Yanow wrote: "Drummer Doug James joins the explosive pianist Marilyn Crispell for a set of passionate duets. On six originals and a spiritual version of John Coltrane's 'After the Rain,' Crispell plays with impressive power and more emotional variety than one might expect. Open-eared listeners will enjoy this somewhat obscure Leo release."[3]

The authors of the Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings noted that the album's title track is dedicated to Cecil Taylor and stated that it "captures something of Taylor's furious percussive poetry."[4]

Regarding Crispell's rendition of Coltrane's "After the Rain", writer Graham Lock commented: "She brilliantly exemplifies Coltrane's sense of spiritual questing, laying bare the heart of the music, hammering at its secrets and moving from delicacy through frantic turmoil to a final, accepting peace."[6] Lock concluded: "she has finally found her ivory voice, and on a song, she must now be one of the most exciting improvisers in creative music, lyrical proof of William Blake's dictum that Energy is eternal delight."[7]

Track listing[edit]

"After the Rain" by John Coltrane. Remaining tracks by Marilyn Crispell.

  1. "Element Air ... Leap" – 3:53
  2. "Opium Dream Eyes" – 7:55
  3. "Minstrels" – 7:40
  4. "On and Off the Beaten Track" – 6:18
  5. "Song for Jeanne Lee" – 3:25
  6. "And Your Ivory Sings (for Cecil Taylor)" – 4:50
  7. "After the Rain" – 8:22

Personnel[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Lopez, Rick. "The Marilyn Crispell Sessionography". bb10k. Retrieved March 5, 2022.
  2. ^ "Marilyn Crispell: Selected Works 1983-1986". Jazz Music Archives. Retrieved March 5, 2022.
  3. ^ a b Yanow, Scott. "Marilyn Crispell: And Your Ivory Voice Sings". AllMusic. Retrieved March 5, 2022.
  4. ^ a b Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (1992). The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD, LP and Cassette. Penguin Books. p. 248.
  5. ^ Larkin, Colin (2000). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Oxford University Press. p. 622.
  6. ^ Lock, Graham (2018). Forces in Motion: Anthony Braxton and the Meta-reality of Creative Music. Courier Dover Publications. p. 181.
  7. ^ Lock, Graham (2018). Forces in Motion: Anthony Braxton and the Meta-reality of Creative Music. Courier Dover Publications. p. 182.