Stephan Crump

Rhombal

RHOMBAL

The first album by my Rhombal quartet…a magical gathering of creative spirits. We convened around a body of work written for my late brother, Patrick. Mixed with the legendary Ron Saint Germain…!

This is the third Rosetta Trio album, and I feel it captures the group operating on a whole new level. Recorded after eight years of working on music together and on the heels of a two-week European tour…the band was really in a groove. And the sound…………..

Emerge

SECRET KEEPER

This is the second album Mary Halvorson and I made together as Secret Keeper, and we took a different approach from the first album. Each of us contributed four compositions, plus we added Irving Berlin’s “What’ll I Do” to the mix (and recorded it during a summer rainstorm, which became part of the sound). So glad Mary and I continue to develop this duo…

Super Eight

SECRET KEEPER

I really couldn’t be more excited about this recording (and the fact that it has finally arrived!). The songs here include the very first notes Mary and I ever played together as we began our musical conversation in my home studio not even two years ago. The album was recorded over the course of several sessions during which we worked on compositions each of us had brought to the occasion. At each session, we decided to begin by warming up (and testing our chemistry…) with a few improvisations…or spontaneous compositions, as I like to think of them. This album is comprised entirely of those improvisations…every note of them, unedited.

Reclamation

ROSETTA TRIO

The second Rosetta Trio album … I can sense the deepening of the trio’s identity … the sound, the feel … as well as a branching out in the sources of inspiration for the songs. And in the end I got to collaborate with my fellow-Memphian artist and friend, Maysey Craddock, who let me use part of one of her paintings for the cover art.

Rosetta

ROSETTA TRIO

The maiden voyage for Rosetta Trio, which I put together to try these pieces written from fragments that emerged in the weeks and months after September 11, 2001. It was so exciting to establish this weird all-string band and work at developing our process and chemistry … all while trying to find the core of this simple but intense material.

Tuckahoe

What an amazing band. I felt like such a genius for pairing up Chris Cheek and Miguel Zenon on saxophones … they egged each other on so perfectly. There’s an innocence and playfulness here that I miss.

Poems and Other Things

STEPHAN CRUMP

My very first album. A great experience, even though the recording machines kept jamming and at the beginning of day 2 the walls baffling the drums collapsed and sent all the mics and drums to the floor! You don’t hear it, though … there’s a serene beauty to the music that I’ve never quite gotten back to in the same way … and the sound is so warm and inviting.

Echo Run Pry

STEPHAN CRUMP / JAMES CARNEY

I love that when playing with James Carney, we can go from dealing with a song structure to dealing with the inner mechanics of sound within a few bars. This album just appeared during one of my semi-regular sessions over at James’ Brooklyn loft. I decided to bring my stereo recorder and happened to throw the mic up in a great spot…we didn’t intend to make a record, but the two pieces we played let us know that’s what they were.

Kaleidoscope and Collage

STEPHAN CRUMP / STEVE LEHMAN

I’ve been on a run of duo projects of late…I find they allow me to explore and grow into some new territories of music and of the bass. In a way, the more you remove from an ensemble, the more each member’s responsibilities (and possibilities!) grow. Putting this collage together with Steve was an amazing new journey. I don’t think there’s anything quite like it.