''Destiny'' is an album by American jazz pianist

Marilyn Crispell Marilyn Crispell (born March 30, 1947) is an American jazz pianist and composer. Scott Yanow described her as "a powerful player... who has her own way of using space... She is near the top of her field." Jon Pareles of The New York Times wrot ...

with saxophonist Fred Anderson and drummer

Hamid Drake Hamid Drake (born August 3, 1955) is an American jazz drummer and percussionist. By the close of the 1990s, Hamid Drake was widely regarded as one of the best percussionists in jazz and improvised music. Incorporating Afro-Cuban, Indian, and Afr ...

recorded in the 1994 "Women of the New Jazz" festival at Chicago’s HotHouse and released on

Okka Disk Okka Disk is an independent American jazz record company and label founded in Chicago by Bruno Johnson in 1994. Okka began as a rock music label, but Johnson soon changed direction to record free jazz.

Background

First time she heard Anderson playing tenor sax at the

Velvet Lounge The Velvet Lounge was a nightclub in the South Loop of Chicago. It started as a jazz club and was called the "dusty epicenter of the Midwest's free form jazz scene." It was located at 2128 1/2 S. Indiana Avenue before moving to 67 E. Cermak when th ...

, Crispell knew she would work with him. Asked with whom she wanted to play at the festival, she took the opportunity. Crispell and Drake had already worked together as a trio with German saxophonist

Peter Brötzmann Peter Brötzmann (born 6 March 1941) is a German saxophonist and clarinetist. Biography Early life Brötzmann was born in Remscheid, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. He studied painting in Wuppertal and was involved with the Fluxus movement ...

, playing a short run of concerts that resulted in the album '' Hyperion'', released on

Music & Arts Music & Arts is a classical and jazz record label founded in Berkeley, California by Frederick Maroth. It began in 1984 as a classical music label before adding jazz and world music. The catalog includes classical composers and musicians Milto ...

.The three musicians had played together only in a studio rehearsal the day before the live show.''Destiny''
at Okka Disk Anderson and Drake recorded a duet at this session that was included on Anderson's '' Birdhouse'' (1996).

Reception

In her review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, Joslyn Layne states "this is an incredible performance by a stunning group of musicians whose skill and chemistry completely sidestep the fact that this is only the second time that these three great jazz improvisers ever played together." The ''

Down Beat ' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chi ...

'' review by Jon Andrews says that Anderson "communicates without the harshness and split tones that alienated many listener in that era" and notes that Crispell "displays a broad range of expression from percussive rage to crystalline delicacy."Andrews, Jon. ''Destiny'' review. ''Down Beat'' June 95: page 52. Print. The authors of the ''

Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' is a reference work containing an encyclopedic directory of jazz recordings on CD which were (at the time of publication) currently available in Europe or the United States. The first nine editions were compiled by ...

'' awarded the album 3½ stars, and commented: "this seems like a relationship written in the stars, and it allows them to build up whole areas of interaction in which the exchange of ideas is almost too fast to follow. Drake provides sterling accompaniment and... often takes the initiative in breaking up Crispell's long, suspended lines into shorter, more discursive sections."

Track listing

:''All compositions by Marilyn Crispell, Hamid Drake, Fred Anderson # "Destiny 1" - 14:16 # "Destiny 2" - 8:26 # "Destiny 3" - 7:29 # "Destiny 4" - 13:36 # "Destiny 5" - 14:37 # "Destiny 6" - 8:17

Personnel

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

* Fred Anderson -

tenor sax The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

References

{{reflist 1995 live albums Marilyn Crispell live albums Fred Anderson (musician) live albums Okka Disk live albums