Marilyn Crispell, Anders Jormin: Memento

US pianist Marilyn Crispell and Swedish bassist Anders Jormin filter their decades of musical experience and improvisational instinct into Memento, their debut duo recording. Combining original compositions with four freely created pieces, the album focuses on the universal themes of memory and loss.

Crispell, recently honored with a 2025 National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master award, first met Jormin at a Stockholm festival in 1992. It left a lasting mark on her musical thinking. "When I heard Anders playing, it touched a chord in me that resonated strongly," she recalls. Jormin, a longtime member of the Bobo Stenson Trio, has collaborated with Tomasz Stańko, Charles Lloyd and Don Cherry. He has recorded many albums as leader, with Crispell appearing on his cycle of sacred songs, In Winds, In Light (ECM Records, 2004).

Recorded at Lugano's Auditorio Stelio Molo RSI in July 2025 and produced by Manfred Eicher, Memento opens with four fully improvised pieces. "For the Children" draws on the memory of those caught in the crossfire of global conflict, its high arco bass drifting across a mournful piano exploration in a manner typical of the album's patient and unhurried pace. The solemn weaving of "Dialogue" gives way to "Embracing the Otherness," space becoming a key element as the duo explore the higher registers of their instruments. The meditative "Contemplation In D" concludes the opening act of their creative exchange.

Jormin's composition "Three Shades of a House" is presented in two contrasting versions. The "Morning" variant features Crispell's crystalline piano, its clarity suggesting the freshness of a new day. In the "Evening" version, the focus shifts to Jormin's bass, whose dark, fluid probing lends the music a deeper, more introspective feel.

Three Crispell compositions follow. "Song" dating back to the 1990s feels entirely at home in this setting, offering Jormin space to show his bass agility. The tender title track is a brief but beautiful piece for solo piano. Depicting Crispell's first visit to Cornwall, the wonderfully evocative "The Beach at Newquay" adds a touch of magic in the form of seagull cries created by Jormin's high arco bass, while Crispell's cascading right-hand figures surge like waves evoking the coastal location.

After the atmospheric textures of "The Dark Light," the album closes with "Dragonfly." Written in memory of Gary Peacock, the track features Crispell's warm, rounded piano tones evoking a poignant tribute that lingers after the notes fade.

In this quiet soundscape, the duo have developed a common language. This allows their improvisational choices to create a natural spaciousness, permitting piano and bass to ebb and flow with unforced grace. Their subtle interplay carries emotional rather than sonic power. Often sparse and delicately balanced, this eloquent recording encourages the listener to slow down, reflect and reconnect with memory.

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