Amaryllis

Three-way streets aren't often as alluring as Amaryllis, on which pianist Marilyn Crispell, bassist Gary Peacock, and drummer Paul Motian intersperse pieces freely improvised in the studio with original compositions from their illustrious pasts. Following up Nothing Ever Was, Anyway, their revelatory album of Annette Peacock compositions, they continue to spring surprises with their heady romanticism and stylistic escapism. Crispell, who built her reputation as a fire-bringing follower of Cecil Taylor and bandmate of Anthony Braxton, here places beauty before complexity, sculpting elliptical ballads and folk-dance-style tunes into shimmering meditations. Even during its quietest moments, the music is rhythmically alive, propelled by Peacock's seductive pulse and Motian's ever-active, airily aggressive strokes. The album, named after a rare flower, flags a bit around the halfway point, but quickly rallies. This is lovely, stirring, enrapturing music, performed by artists having one of the best conversations of their lives. --Lloyd Sachs