Amaryllis

Amaryllis

• Marilyn Crispell/Gary Peacock/Paul Motian- Amaryllis

Three-way streets aren't often as alluring as <I>Amaryllis</I>, on which pianist Marilyn Crispell, bassist Gary Peacock, and drummer Paul Motian intersperse pieces freely improvised in the studio with original compositions from their illustrious pasts. Following up <I>Nothing Ever Was, Anyway</I>, their revelatory album of Annette Peacock compositions, they continue to spring surprises with their heady romanticism and stylistic escapism. Crispell, who built her reputation as a fire-bringing follower of Cecil Taylor and bandmate of Anthony Braxton, here places beauty before complexity, sculpting elliptical ballads and folk-dance-style tunes into shimmering meditations. Even during its quietest moments, the music is rhythmically alive, propelled by Peacock's seductive pulse and Motian's ever-active, airily aggressive strokes. The album, named after a rare flower, flags a bit around the halfway point, but quickly rallies. This is lovely, stirring, enrapturing music, performed by artists having one of the best conversations of their lives. <I>--Lloyd Sachs</I>