15 Facts About Marilyn Crispell

Marilyn Crispell was born on March 30,1947 and is an American jazz pianist and composer.

Marilyn Crispell is one of a very few pianists who rise to the challenge of free jazz.

Marilyn Crispell was born in Philadelphia and, at the age of ten, moved to Baltimore, where she attended Western High School.

Marilyn Crispell studied classical piano at the Peabody Conservatory beginning at age seven, and began improvising at an early age, thanks to a teacher who required all her students to improvise regardless of their skill level.

Marilyn Crispell later attended the New England Conservatory of Music, where she studied piano and composition, graduating in 1968.

Marilyn Crispell was not interested in jazz until 1975, when, while living on Cape Cod, she heard John Coltrane's A Love Supreme for the first time.

Marilyn Crispell soon returned to Boston, where she studied jazz privately with Charlie Banacos for two years.

Marilyn Crispell was playing pool, and there was a piano behind the pool room.

Marilyn Crispell has continued to perform and record extensively as a soloist and leader of her own groups, as well as with the Evan Parker Trio, an all-female trio led by Denmark's Lotte Anker, Tisziji Munoz, Ivo Perelman, Scott Fields, the Copenhagen Art Ensemble, Trio Tapestry with saxophonist Joe Lovano and drummer Carmen Castaldi, Trio 3, the Dave Douglas Trio, Tyshawn Sorey, and many other musicians.

Marilyn Crispell has performed and recorded music by contemporary composers such as John Cage, Pauline Oliveros, Robert Cogan, Pozzi Escot, Manfred Niehaus, and Anthony Davis.

Marilyn Crispell has been the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in Music Composition, a Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust composition commission, and three New York Foundation for the Arts fellowship grants.

In 1996, Marilyn Crispell was presented with an Outstanding Alumni Award by the New England Conservatory, and in 2004, was named as being one of their 100 most outstanding alumni of the past 100 years.

Marilyn Crispell is the author of the instructional DVD "A pianist's guide to free improvisation: keys to unlocking your creativity".

In 2000, Marilyn Crispell appeared in the French film Women in Jazz by Gilles Corre.

Marilyn Crispell created and directed a multi media production entitled Cy Twombly Dreamhouse, with choreography by Savia Berger.