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Matthew Shipp: New Concepts in Piano Trio Jazz
by Mark Corroto
Jazz fans are much like baseball geeks; they collect facts and statistics. The baseball fan will know a player's numbers such as on base percentage, at bats, home runs and stolen bases, whereas the jazz fan, maybe better said the jazz fanatic, will note recording dates and lineups, titles, releases and recording engineers. The baseball fan will utilize those statistics to predict what a player will do in a clutch situation as in the bottom of the ninth with two ...
read moreMatthew Shipp Trio: New Concepts in Piano Trio Jazz
by Karl Ackermann
Matthew Shipp with bassist Michael Bisio and drummer Newman Taylor Baker, issue their fifth album as the most enduring of Shipp's various trios. New Concepts in Piano Trio Jazz is another vehicle for the pianist/composer in which to express his singular, intricate vision. The perpetual sea-change artist believes that this album is a substantial leap ahead of the highly regarded World Construct (ESP Disk, 2022). At the very least, New Concepts in Piano Trio Jazz allows Shipp to move his ...
read moreRich Halley: Fire Within
by Troy Dostert
The cover and title of Rich Halley's latest, Fire Within, have a menacing edge, alerting us to the incendiary qualities that are always a part of the tenor saxophonist's music. But one of the remarkable things about Halley's output is that it is never one-dimensional; there are abundant nuances and surprises to keep a listener engaged, with plenty of rhythmic fervor and lyricism even amidst the more anarchic moments. And as he is united once again on his third outing ...
read moreFrode Gjerstad with Matthew Shipp: We Speak
by John Sharpe
While the combination of reedman Frode Gjerstad--the godfather of Norwegian free jazz who dwells about as far from the so-called Nordic sound as you can get--and pianist Matthew Shipp -whose lineage can be traced back through what he terms The Black Mystery School, which takes in Thelonious Monk, Mal Waldron and Randy Weston among others--might seem unlikely, it makes perfect sense when you hear it. From the first piece About Music" on, it is clear that this pairing is not ...
read moreRich Halley: Fire Within
by Mike Jurkovic
The name of free form saxophonist and raconteur Rich Halley may not roll off the tongue or be a secret G7 password, but he sure kicks up a lot of dust. Put him in the same room as piano slaying Matthew Shipp, bassist Michael Bisio, and drummer Newman Taylor Baker and rest assured all hell will break loose. And when all hell breaks loose it sounds hydrogen-charged and animated like Fire Within--a runaround Hail Mary with a post-rock punch and ...
read moreMatthew Shipp & Mark Helias: The New Syntax
by John Sharpe
Pianist Matthew Shipp particularly favors the duo format. Among a discography of more than 300 entries are winning combinations with partners as varied as trumpeter Nate Wooley, violist Mat Maneri, and saxophonists Darius Jones, Rob Brown and Evan Parker. But he retains a special fondness for the bass/piano twosome, accounting for multiple meetings with longtime comrade William Parker and the current occupant of the bass chair in his trio, Michael Bisio. To that illustrious roster can also be added his ...
read moreMatthew Shipp Trio: Circular Temple
by Mike Jurkovic
On a good day it is strenuous to stay current with pianist Matthew Shipp's imposing and voluminous output. On an even better day it is a fool's hardy errand to say the least. Now with the planned re-issuing of some of his great early deconstructions of musical thought and theory, starting here with 1990's daringly incongruous yet hypnotically accessible, Circular Temple, keeping up just got a whole lot harder. With William Parker on bass and Whit Dickey on ...
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