Crispin Cioe Founder | Cracked Ice

Cracked Ice Consultation
Schedule a musical consultation with Crispin.
What Crispin Brings to the Party
Because he has led successful bands onstage, on television, and in the recording studio, Crispin Cioe brings an unparalleled level of professionalism and creativity to the Cracked Ice experience. Crispin was born in Detroit, Michigan, and grew up Chicago and New York, then attended high school in the Detroit suburb of Grosse Pointe. While in high school, he formed a jug band with some friends, including future blues-rock legend James Montgomery, and they performed around the Detroit area, on local TV shows, teen dances and coffeehouses. Crispin attended college at University of Michigan, Wayne State University, and Berklee School of Music in Boston, ultimately settling in New York City. There he developed a side-career as a free-lance music journalist (writing for magazines Stereo Review, High Fidelity, Playboy, Soho Weekly News, Village Voice, and doing liner notes for albums and CDs), while at the same time jumping into the the world of a studio recording/touring sideman on saxophone (working with bands and artists like Mink DeVille, Carolyne Mas, Geoff Muldaur, Tom Rush, The The, Kid Creole & The Coconuts; performing on soundtracks “Blood Simple” by the Coen Bros., “China Girl by Abel Ferrera, etc.). In 1980 with three other horn playing partners– Bob Funk, Arno Hecht, and Paul Litteral (who was replaced on trumpet by Larry Etkin a few years later) – Crispin co-founded the Uptown Horns, which went on to become one of the pre-eminent horn sections in the world. The Uptown Horns have toured and recorded with the Rolling Stones. Check out the clip below from the IMAX film of the Rolling Stones’ “Steel Wheels” Tour. Crispin and the rest of the Uptown Horns make their entrance 2 minutes in . . .
Rolling Stones: Live at the Max
J. Geils Band (Boston’s Fenway Park August 2011)
Debbie Harry on Saturday Night Live
Starting in the late 90s, Crispin began performing as featured saxophonist for “The Mark Twain Prize for American Humor” at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, all shows broadcast nationally on PBS. In 2008, Crispin was named Musical Director for the Mark Twain Prize that saluted the late, great George Carlin, and in November, 2010, he helmed all music production for “The Mark Twain Prize Celebrating Tina Fey”, which is currently running on PBS. Crispin conducted expanded versions of Cracked Ice on both the Carlin and Fey programs. In the video below, Jimmy Fallon honors Tina Fey in a send-up of Bono’s Beautiful Day.
Jimmy Fallon Beautiful Fey
In a sneak peak clip of an impromptu performance by Jack Black, you’ll see Crispin standing on stage in his role of Music Director, conducting the band. Jack Black does a send-up of his famed School of Rock performance to honor Will Ferrell.
Jack Black on PBS Mark Twain Prize