Marilyn Crispell/Harvey Sorgen Duo

Marilyn Crispell (piano), Harvey Sorgen (drums)

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, Tiszigi Munoz Ensemble, and Quartet Noir (with Urs Leimgruber, Fritz Hauser and Joelle Leandre).

Currently she is touring and recording with two different trios: Joe Lovano’s Trio Tapestry (with Carmen Castaldi) and the Dreamstruck Trio with Harvey Sorgen and Joe Fonda. She also plays with Scottish saxophonist Raymond MacDonald and the Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra. She has collaborated with Angelica Sanchez, Tanya Kalmanovitch, Tyshawn Sorey, David Rothenberg and others. Besides working as a soloist and leader of her own groups (including trios with Gary Peaccok or Mark Helias and Paul Motian), 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 1986). She is a 2025 NEA Jazz Master.

Woodstock-based drummer/composer Harvey Sorgen has lived a hundred lifetimes in one. Sorgen has drummed with such greats as Ahmad Jamal, Bill Frisell, Paul Simon, Derek Trucks, and his longtime gig Hot Tuna, and he’s also worked as an engineer and clinician. Upcoming records with Katie Bull, MaMuGe 3, the Fonda/Stevens Group, Black Dog Trio, and his own Sorgen/Rust/ Windbiel Trio attest to his versatility and seriously swinging, slightly abstract style. Sorgen says listening beyond the drums is the key to being a player other musicians want to work with. “Listen to the rhythm of everybody else in the band,” he advises. “It’s really about the way the other musicians are playing. Their rhythms and dynamics will help dictate your rhythms and dynamics and make it feel natural.”

Their new release, Forest, has been released on Fundacja Shuchaj.