Connie Crothers, pianist, is known for her uncompromising approach to spontaneous improvisation. Seven of her CDs have been chosen by critics for their year’s best lists.
In 1987 she reorganized the New Artists label as a cooperative record company. She has participated in the expansion of this label to include an extensive catalog of CD’s, all expressive of the company’s premise and label identity — improvised original music.
There I was, doing a solo concert in Paris for the first time. It was almost like a dream. It brought me back to the summer of 1959, when I was eighteen, in Paris for the first time, attending a field studies course in European church architecture. The course lasted a week, but I stayed there for another month. — Connie Crothers Continue reading
My greatest invention. Some people call these things “samplers” akin to them embroidery and needlework delicacies those dear 19th century maidens stitched together. Just like that. — Mark Weber ALL … Continue reading
The deepest friendship fosters freedom and from there, the joy of flight. The deepest friendship, like real freedom, is pluralistically unified, a place where the boundaries are malleable, at one moment wide open to the slow build and arc of myriad histories, then suddenly capturing a single moment in all its import, a look, a shared remembrance, a phrase spoken with neither artifice nor conceit, a simple act of communication whose ramifications define and transcend the shared experience, worlds and galaxies emerging from the gestural seed. Continue reading
A stealth recording deserving of wide spread critical acclaim! Straight up, Jessica Jones and Connie Crothers Live at the Freight is an absolute gem! Why? Simple…Take iconic standards performed at an exemplary level such as Duke Ellington’s “In A Sentimental Mood” then carefully intermingled some highly accessible yet spontaneously energetic free jazz and you have a live duo that is crossing musical planes and welcoming everyone along for the journey. …Live at the Freight is spontaneous creativity at its finest. – Brent Black, Criticaljazz.com Continue reading
We dedicate this recording, with profound love and gratitude, to Max Roach. Continue reading
Crothers recalls their first musical meeting: “We were both astonished…and that was our starting point!” Hear how far they’ve come and be astonished in turn. — Kirk Silsbee, May 2012 Continue reading
For those of us who like free improvisation this is just what the doctor ordered. TranceFormation is a trio featuring pianist Connie Crothers, bassist Ken Filiano and scatting, vocalese master, Andrea Wolper. If the instrumentals are too abstract, check out “The Things You See In New York City”. They are fueled by each other’s energy and years of experience make them comfortable enough to explore with no fear. In a trance? Yes, in their zone that overflows to their audience with an abundance of spirit. — D. Oscar Groomes, O’s Place Jazz Magazine Continue reading
The music sustains an inspired attainment for something like four hours. And it does so in ways that provide the attentive listener with endless musical terrain to explore and re-explore with great pleasure and satisfaction. It is one of the finest improvisational solo-pianistic moments we have experienced in recorded form to date, to my mind. Do not let this one slip by. It will repay your attention with an enthralling sublimity.– Grego Gapplegate Continue reading
Fire creates its own sonic universe. Its timbre comes from the burning, while the elemental transmutation breeds new forms of light and ash. It roars and whispers, constantly susurrating just below the energy that bespeaks its crackling multiplicity, its multileveled and precisely detailed identity. The title”Band of Fire” captures the essence of this music with uncanny perfection. Connie Crothers, Richard Tabnik, Roy Campbell, Ken Filianoand Roger Mancuso share a common tradition, but their musical vision refuses to be bound by it. The freedom they created at The Stone, on November21″, 2010, grounded in hard-won precision, tempered through improvisation, is released in bursts of flaming energy. Old forms burn as the quintet’s creative energy destroys and recreates them with new life. Continue reading
It was autumn. In New York. Warm days and chilly nights. The Lower East Side. Down at the Stone, where did Connie’s band find that amazing chord for that Sanskrit chant? Wow. — Mark Weber Continue reading