Asteroidea Borderlands Trio, Stephan Crump, Kris Davis & Eric McPherson

• 1 Borderlands 26:32
• 2 Carnaval Hill 02:06
• 3 Flockwork 07:52
• 4 Ochre 03:40
• 5 Body Waves 06:31
• 6 From Polliwogs 05:59
• Total Runtime 52:40

Info for Asteroidea

Borderlands Trio, the collective effort of bassist Stephan Crump, pianist Kris Davis and drummer Eric McPherson, has luck on its side. Less than a year old, its chemistry is unusually deep. And while I don’t often use the term, it’s also a band that boasts a bit of magic.

The album title Asteroida is the Latin term for starfish – a creature that can regenerate parts of itself whenever need be. That idea resonates with Crump because of the trio’s ability to steadily develop new landscapes, and the Stephan Crump reminds that the word starfish conjures notions of both the ocean and outer space. ‘Gravity, magnetism, constellations, nature. With this band, we’re always expanding and contracting, recontextualizing what’s around us and heading for the instantly inevitable.’

Ultimately Asteroidea is a treatise on immediacy and a deep dive into the spectrum of responses made by any one gesture. Pay close attention. Its grooves are always morphing, its drama boasts moments of whimsy, and its creators are just getting started. …

Stephan Crump, acoustic bass
Kris Davis, piano
Eric McPherson, drums

Recorded December 18, 2016, at The Samurai Hotel, Queens, NY by David Stoller
Mixed by Stephan Crump at The Butler Plaza, Brooklyn, NY
Mastered by Liberty Ellman at 4D Studios, Brooklyn, NY
Produced by Kris Davis, Stephan Crump, Eric McPherson

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BorderlandsTrio
Memphis-bred, Grammy-nominated bassist/composer Stephan Crump has lived in Brooklyn since 1994. An active bandleader and composer, he has released ten critically-acclaimed albums in addition to numerous film scoring contributions. As bassist, known for transforming his instrument into a speaking entity of magnetic pull, his focus on creative instrumental music has led to collaborations with many of the leading lights of his generation.

Shunning barriers of genre, Crump has performed and recorded with a diverse range of musicians, from Portishead’s Dave McDonald, The Violent Femmes’ Gordon Gano, to Patti Austin, Jim Campilongo, Jorma Kaukonen, Lucy Kaplansky, Big Ass Truck, Sonny Fortune, and late blues legend Johnny Clyde Copeland. Currently, he can be heard as a long-standing member of Vijay Iyer Trio and Sextet, Jen Chapin Band, Ches Smith Trio, Rez Abbasi Acoustic Quartet, Liberty Ellman Sextet, Secret Keeper (with Mary Halvorson), his own Rosetta Trio, as well as groups with Kris Davis, Ingrid Laubrock, Cory Smythe, Eric McPherson, Mat Maneri, and Okkyung Lee.

Stephan comes from a family of architects, sculptors, painters, storytellers, musicians, civic leaders, and craftsmen. He was raised in music and the arts by his Parisian mother, an amateur pianist, and his Memphian father, an architect, painter, and jazz drummer. After six years of classical piano study and two years with the alto saxophone, he got his first bass guitar at age thirteen and spent his high school years playing in rock and funk bands around Memphis. During the summers, he worked in the studio of his uncle, Stephen, a wood sculptor.

Crump received his Bachelor of Music degree from Amherst College, where he studied under Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Lewis Spratlin and was awarded the Sundquist Prize for performance and composition. It was at Amherst that he began his acoustic bass journey, with a focus on classical training that culminated in a year of study in Paris with Gary Karr-protégé Patrick Hardouineau. His jazz studies at Amherst included work with Max Roach, Frank Foster, and Ray Drummond.

Crump launched his solo performance career as an invited artist at the 2009 International Society of Bassists conference and has since released several recordings documenting his duo collaborations with alto saxophonist Steve Lehman, pianist James Carney, and guitarist Mary Halvorson. His all-string Rosetta Trio, with Jamie Fox and Liberty Ellman, is working toward their fourth album, while and his Rhombal quartet, with Tyshawn Sorey, Ellery Eskelin, and Adam O’Farrill, recently released its eponymous debut.

Stephan is an enthusiastic endorser of Velvet strings, Aguilar bass amplifiers, AMT acoustic bass microphones, and David Gage Czech Ease travel bass.

This album contains no booklet.