"Marilyn Crispell is a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music where she studied classical piano and composition, and has been a resident of Woodstock, New York since 1977 when she came to study and teach at the Creative Music Studio. She discovered jazz through the music of John Coltrane, Cecil Taylor and other contemporary jazz players and composers. For ten years she was a member of the Anthony Braxton Quartet and the Reggie Workman Ensemble and has been a member of the Barry Guy New Orchestra and guest with his London Jazz Composers Orchestra, as well as a member of the Henry Grimes Trio, Quartet Noir (with Urs Leimgruber, Fritz Hauser and Joelle Leandre), and Anders Jormin's Bortom Quintet. In 2005 she performed and recorded with the NOW Orchestra in Vancouver, Canada and in 2006 she was co-director of the Vancouver Creative Music Institute and a faculty member at the Banff Centre International Workshop in Jazz. In 2014 she led a three-week music residency at the Atlantic Center For the Arts, New Smyrna Beach, Florida, and in 2016 led a one-week residency at the Conservatory Manuel de Falla in Buenos Aires.

Besides working as a soloist and leader of her own groups, Crispell has performed and recorded extensively with well-known players on the American and international jazz scene. She's also performed and recorded music by contemporary composers Robert Cogan, Pozzi Escot, John Cage, Pauline Oliveros, Manfred Niehaus and Anthony Davis (including four performances of his opera "X" with the New York City Opera).

In addition to playing, she has taught improvisation workshops and given lecture/demonstrations at universities and art centers in the U.S., Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and has collaborated with videographers, filmmakers, dancers and poets.

Crispell has been the recipient of three New York Foundation for the Arts fellowship grants (1988-1989, 1994-1995 and 2006-2007), a Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust composition commission (1988-1989), and a Guggenheim Fellowship (2005-2006). 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 alumni of the past 100 years."

"In sound, motion and beauty....so to lays the groundwork for truth. All that I am becomes a part of my own way of communication. In striving for a lifestyle unfettered by my own limitations, I am eternally grateful to have created honest music with some of the greatest artists of our time. It's almost like I have to pinch myself sometimes to not forget how fortunate I am to have the love of my family, and the spirit to be open to what may appear to be right in front of me!!

Just a very few of the artists I have had the great fortune to record and/or perform with include:

Hot Tuna, Ahmad Jamal, Ted Dunbar, Michelle Shocked, Paul Simon, Dewey Redman, Frank Kimbrough, Dave Douglas, David Sancious, Mark Feldman, Karl Berger, Joe Mcphee, Julius Hemphill , Connie Bauer, Pete Levin, John Lindberg, Zakir Hussain, Giovanni Hildago, Wadada Leo Smith, Peter Herbert, Cameron Brown, Steve Swell, Neil Rolnick, Anthony Braxton, Carter Jefferson, John Stubblefield, Bruce Hornsby, Brenda Buffalino, Jay Anderson, Istvan Grenesco, Honi Coles, Daunik Lazro, Todd Reynolds, Derrick Trucks, Jimmy Heath, Percy Heath, Roswell Rudd, Phil Lesh, David Torn, Levon Helm, The Memphis Pilgrims, Bill Frisell, Fonda/Stevens group, Herb Robertson, Carlos Santana, Omar Tamez, Remi Alvarez, Dry Jack, Art Lande, John d'Earth, Bob Weir, Greg Allman, Marcel Monroe, The Mallards, Sorgen-Rust-Windbiel trio, Jack DeJohnette, Dave Samuels, Drew Gress, Tony Levin, Garth Hudson, Jimmy Vivino, amongst many, many others.

I have also written and performed pieces for film and the stage, including a solo percussion piece for the New Day Repertoire Theater's version of "Antigone".

One aspect of my joy has been in the workshops I give around the world in jazz ensembles, improvisation, percussion master classes and audio production. Some of these include:

University of Michigan - Jazz and Improvisation Dept. - Ed Sarath, director Virginia Commonwealth University - Jazz Dept. - Antonio Garcia, Director Schnittpunke Festival - Rudersdorf, Austria - Udo Preis, Director Jazz Initiative Marburg - Marburg, Germany - Roman Kloecker, Director Carre Blue - Poiters, France - Bernard Aimee, Director Onteora Central School District - Boiceville, N.Y. - Steven Murphy, Director Charles City Arts Council - Charles City, Va. - Julie Boyd, Director Naropa Institute - Boulder, Co. - in collaboration with Allan Ginsberg Jackson Field Home for Girls - Emporia, Va. - Donna Waldron, Director Numerous in- store clinics and private lessons throughout the U.S. and Europe. Recipient of New York State "Meet the Composer" and NYSCA grants.

I have also been interviewed in many publications including: Modern Drummer, DRUM!, Down Beat, All About Jazz, Jazz Podium (Germany), and Jazz Halo (Belgium).

Through Dreamland Recording Studio and freelance work, I have had the great pleasure to be involved in many great recording projects as an engineer and editor. One of my favorite projects was to remaster the entire ESP record label. My first instructional DVD " Drumming Made Easy " is currently available worldwide from Homespun Tapes Inc. / Hal Leonard publishing. I also appear on Jack DeJohnette's " Musical Expression On The Drum Set" and Jorma Kaukonen's " The Electric Guitar Of Jorma Kaukonen"