Stephan Crump's Rosetta Trio at 80 Gladstone

Memphis-bred, Brooklynite bassist/composer Stephan Crump, best known for his
dynamic role in the Grammy-nominated, Echo award-winning Vijay Iyer Trio, has for
years led his own ensembles, including the uniquely colorful and hard-grooving all-string
Rosetta Trio, featuring guitarists Liberty Ellman and Jamie Fox. Hailed as “a string
ensemble for the new century” (AllAboutJazz), the group formed in 2005 to record an
album of pieces written in the aftermath of 9/11. That album, Rosetta, was greeted with
inclusion on multiple top ten lists and ecstatic reviews for its narrative depth and...

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Memphis-bred, Brooklynite bassist/composer Stephan Crump, best known for his
dynamic role in the Grammy-nominated, Echo award-winning Vijay Iyer Trio, has for
years led his own ensembles, including the uniquely colorful and hard-grooving all-string
Rosetta Trio, featuring guitarists Liberty Ellman and Jamie Fox. Hailed as “a string
ensemble for the new century” (AllAboutJazz), the group formed in 2005 to record an
album of pieces written in the aftermath of 9/11. That album, Rosetta, was greeted with
inclusion on multiple top ten lists and ecstatic reviews for its narrative depth and
outstanding performances. Their second album, Reclamation (2010), declared “a lowkey
marvel” (JazzTimes) and noted for its “bareness in emotion” (NPR), was much
more than a follow-up effort, though it was the earlier album that gave the trio its name
and its mission: to inhabit the dynamic and rhythmic flexibility of a drumless ensemble
and embrace its challenges and expanded responsibilities; to reject restrictions of
genre; to explore different territories of feel, texture, color; to groove. Rosetta Trio,
whose members have for years collaborated with many of the leading lights in the New
York creative music scene, has developed into a formidable unit, sensitively and
powerfully rendering Crump’s often profound, sometimes playful and always honest
music. Their third album, Thwirl (2013), recorded after eight years of collaboration and
on the heels of a two-week European tour, captures Rosetta Trio not only at peak
telepathy, but charting new territories of shape and feel.

“a declaration of increased proportions, a culmination of
superior interplay, chemistry, delicacy and vision”
Downbeat (4.5 Stars)

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