Mpd-applet shows an icon representing the state of the mpd server and allows to do play/stop/pause/prev/next. Finally, a user selectable client can be started from the popup menu to do the more complex stuff.

Have a look at this thread in the forums for screenshots and installation instructions...

The sources can be downloaded from here.

A binary Debian package can be downloaded from here.

Screenshots:

http://lindenaar.org/~daniel/mpd-applet-screenshots/menu.png

http://lindenaar.org/~daniel/mpd-applet-screenshots/popup.png

For questions and bugs: daniel-mpdapplet_at_lindenaar_dot_org