Stephan Crump: Slow Water

Memphis-bred, Brooklyn-based composer and bassist Stephan Crump presents an extraordinary ensemble and body of work inspired by science journalist Erica Gies’s book Water Always Wins and the movement to redefine how we live with water in an era of rapid change. 

Working beyond genre, Crump has become a crucial component of multiple New York music communities in and beyond jazz. For two decades, Crump recorded and toured as a third of Vijay Iyer’s acclaimed trio, helping to build that band’s global reputation. Meanwhile, many of his own ensembles—Rhombal, with Tyshawn Sorey, Ellery Eskelin, and Adam O’Farrill; Secret Keeper, with Mary Halvorson; and Rosetta Trio, with Jamie Fox and Liberty Ellman—prize versatility and voicings in a manner that more traditional configurations often do not. His Borderlands Trio, with pianist Kris Davis and drummer Eric McPherson, brings this same mentality to a more familiar setting. Other collaborators have included Miguel Zenón, Gordon Gano, Patti Austin, Johnny Clyde Copeland, Wadada Leo Smith, Jim Campilongo, David Gilmore, Sam Newsome, Steve Lehman, Cory Smythe, Ingrid Laubrock, Okkyung Lee, Mat Maneri, and Ches Smith. 

Crump’s physical and emotional connection to the bass is abundant through the new sextet Slow Water, which explores ecology and environment through composition and group communication. He teaches “On Magnetism,” a course in connecting more deeply through one’s instrument, after a lifetime of doing just that, and lives still in Brooklyn with his wife and collaborator, singer Jen Chapin, and their two sons. 

Performers

Patricia Brennan, vibraphone
Carrie Frey, viola
Erica Dicker, violin
Jacob Garchik, trombone
Kenny Warren, trumpet
Stephan Crump, acoustic bass

Here are selected press responses to the Slow Water album, now available on Papillon Sounds:

“Mystical.” (four stars) —AllMusic

“Both daring and beautiful.” —PopMatters

“Haunting, plangent and memorable music.” —The Wire

“A creative masterwork.” (four stars) —All About Jazz

“A fascinating and original creation.” —Textura

The views expressed by performers during this event are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Cleveland Museum of Art.