Otherlands Trio is a new creative formation featuring veteran instrumentalists/composers Stephan Crump, Darius Jones,
and Eric McPherson. Their dynamic, ever-evolving, and magnetically charged music emerges from a pursuit of ego dissolution and spiritual communion.

Band Members:
Stephan Crump - Upright Bass
Darius Jones - Alto Saxophone
Eric McPherson - Drums

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“A massive veteran trio...bassist Stephan Crump and alto saxophonist Darius Jones are not just immense players, they’re also two of the city’s great creative music composers, pushing it into wondrous, unexpected but also inviting spaces” – DadaStrain

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Stephan Crump is a Grammy-nominated bassist, composer, bandleader, and educator based in New York City since 1994. A Memphis native, Crump fell for New York’s fecund scenes during his first semester at Amherst College, when he would drive hours to play late-night weekday gigs in the West Village. Since then, he has become a crucial component of multiple New York music communities in and beyond jazz.

Crump recorded and toured as a third of Vijay Iyer’s acclaimed trio for two decades, helping to build that band’s global reputation. Meanwhile, many of his own ensembles—including Rhombal with Tyshawn Sorey, Ellery Eskelin, and Adam O’Farrill; Secret Keeper with Mary Halvorson; and Rosetta Trio with Jamie Fox and Liberty Ellman—prize versatility and voicings in a manner that more traditional configurations often do not. His Borderlands Trio, with pianist Kris Davis and drummer Eric McPherson, brings this same mentality to a more familiar setting. Other collaborators have included Miguel Zenón, Gordon Gano, Patti Austin, Johnny Clyde Copeland, Wadada Leo Smith, Jim Campilongo, David Gilmore, Sam Newsome, Steve Lehman, Cory Smythe, Ingrid Laubrock, Okkyung Lee, Mat Maneri, and Ches Smith.

Crump teaches On Magnetism, a course on connecting more deeply through one’s instrument, after a lifetime of doing just that. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and collaborator—the singer Jen Chapin—and their two sons.

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Darius Jones has created a recognizable voice as a critically acclaimed saxophonist and composer by embracing individuality and innovation in the tradition of African American music. He has released a string of diverse recordings featuring music and images evocative of Black Futurism. His work as a new music composer for voice culminated in a major debut performance at Carnegie Hall in 2014. Jones has collaborated with artists including Gerald Cleaver, Oliver Lake, William Parker, Andrew Cyrille, Craig Taborn, Jason Moran, Marshall Allen, Nasheet Waits, Branford Marsalis, Fay Victor, Matana Roberts, JD Allen, Nicole Mitchell, and Georgia Ann Muldrow. Jones’ music confronts apathy and ego, and its authenticity is intended to compel us to be better humans.

Jones has been awarded the Van Lier Fellowship, Jerome Foundation Commission, Jerome Artist-in-Residence at Roulette, French-American Jazz Exchange Award, and the Fromm Music Foundation commission at Harvard University. The New York Times named Jones among the Best Live Jazz Performances of 2017 for his Vision Festival performance with Farmers by Nature.

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A native of New York City, Eric McPherson came to prominence apprenticing with legendary saxophonist/educator Jackie McLean and innovative pianist/composer Andrew Hill. Those experiences cultivated McPherson into one of the leading drummers in contemporary creative music. Beyond performing internationally with an array of today’s leading contemporary creative musicians, McPherson teaches privately and at the University of Hartford’s Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz.