One of the great things about being a music addict (not really sure if addict is the right word here, since I'm not sure that anything can be done about this 'condition'...to me it's as necessary as breathing or eating) is that, because I'm constantly digging through the pile for new stuff, surprises pop up with amazing regularity.

Today though, the complaint is is often made that there's no good music being made. Similarly, a CD is purchased because of particular song, but the rest of the recording disappoints. Honestly, this never happens to me. Maybe it's because hit songs no longer drive my buying habits: I don't listen to radio very often, and music videos have basically disappeared from television.

Uh, anyway...so what's the surprise here? Well, almost all of my exposure to pianist/composer Marilyn Crispell has involved her Cecil Taylor-esque material. She's worked with many an avante-garde-leaning musician including: Billy Bang, Tim Berne, Reggie Workman, Gary Peacock, Steve Lacy and Anthony Braxton (find yourself a used copy of Braxton's "Willisau Quartet 1991", you won't be disappointed). So somehow the 'softer' side of Crispell has eluded me. Heck, I even own Crispell's fine Annette Peacock tribute Nothing Ever Was Anyway, so you think I'd have grown a smidge of awareness with regard to her more lyrical side.

So the big surprise is the cool wash of piano tones and subtle interplay on Crispell's Storyteller. Along with bassist Mark Helias and drummer Paul Motian, the trio moves through, in, around and between the melodies and changes with amazing sensitivity. Tunes like "Flight of the Bluejay" and "Harmonic Line" somehow combine (hold on to yer hats, jazz fans) the folkiness of George Winston with the improvisational complexity of Ornette Coleman. Crispell drops a chord arpeggio, Motion follows and mirrors with some whispy brushes and then Helias lifts everything with a few notes of commentary. These musicians are locked in!

Now, this is not music that's going to hit you over the head. It does require some pretty intensive listening. There's a lot of 'air' in it. For the people out there who say that nothing good has come along in a while, I say: open your ears and mind and give something like Storyteller a try. You just might be in for a big surprise.

(First posted on Mark Is Cranky)