Jazz Articles about Matthew Shipp

About Matthew Shipp

Album Review

John Butcher / Thomas Lehn / Matthew Shipp: The Clawed Stone

Read "The Clawed Stone" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
December 4, 2020

The unlikely conjunction of American pianist Matthew Shipp, most strongly associated with New York avant jazz, and British saxophonist John Butcher and German electronicist Thomas Lehn, two leading exponents of the European free improvisation scene, works like a dream on The Clawed Stone. It's not a one off. The genesis of this 2017 Paris studio session lies in the pianist's invite for Butcher to join him as part of a 2010 residency at London's Cafe Oto, which was documented as ...

Album Review

Rich Halley: The Shape Of Things

Read "The Shape Of Things" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
November 26, 2020

Nobody rips it up like Portland, Oregon-based tenor saxophonist Rich Halley. Whether he is playing with his West Coast crews on sets like The Literature (Pine Eagle Records, 2018) or The Outlier (Pine Eagle Records, 2016), or recording with his New York City compatriots on Terra Incognita (Pine Eagle Record, 2019). And now we have--with, again, the New Yorkers--The Shape of Things, where Halley continues to prove he can be counted on to shake the walls and rattle the windows ...

Album Review

Matthew Shipp - Rob Brown: Then Now

Read "Then Now" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
November 2, 2020

The piano and saxophone duo of Matthew Shipp and Rob Brown has a musical history which dates back three decades to Sonic Explorations (Cadence, 1988) but they have recorded in this formation sparingly, only releasing one other album, Blink of an Eye (No More Records, 1997). The balance which developed at the start of both of their recording careers has not gone out of sync despite the chronological gap between projects. On Then Now, the maturity and accumulated proficiency of ...

Album Review

Matthew Shipp / Rob Brown: Then Now

by John Sharpe
September 29, 2020

Then Now presents a reprise of both pianist Matthew Shipp's and alto saxophonist Rob Brown's debut recording, a duet entitled Sonic Explorations (CJR, 1988). Though they have occasionally collaborated since—last heard together on Magnetism(s) (Rogue Art, 2017) alongside bassist William Parker—this is their first album as a twosome since Blink Of An Eye (No More, 1997). With Shipp so frequently in tandem with Brazilian saxophonist Ivo Perelman, it is almost a shock to hear him in this format in different ...

Album Review

Matthew Shipp: The Unidentifiable

Read "The Unidentifiable" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
September 28, 2020

We can talk about a Bud Powell school of the piano trio, or a Bill Evans school of the piano trio, but maybe it is time to start talking about Mathew Shipp's trio school, with bassist Michael Bisio and drummer Newman Taylor Baker. Shipp has been around the jazz scene for three decades. He has developed a distinctive voice. He sounds like no-one else. If you can't start your own school under those circumstances, then when can you?

Album Review

Rob Brown - Matthew Shipp: Then Now

Read "Then Now" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
September 24, 2020

Much could be written about pianist Matthew Shipp and saxophonist Rob Brown's respective legacies within progressive jazz and improvisational circles in the US and abroad. Hence, these narratives are well-documented spanning several decades. On this release, the duo aligns for the third time, following Sonic Explorations (Cadence, 1988) and Blink of an Eye (No More Records, 1997). After all these years, their collective creative sparks remain intact as they embark on a continuous construction project without blueprints via spontaneous trajectories ...

Album Review

Matthew Shipp Trio: The Unidentifiable

Read "The Unidentifiable" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
September 1, 2020

With each successive project, the prolific Matthew Shipp takes the art form to seemingly unstainable heights and then persists in pushing the bar further along. Shipp began his recording career with a trio project, Circular Temple (Quinton Records, 1992) featuring William Parker and Whit Dickey, two artists that have retained close professional ties to the pianist/composer. Shipp has recorded a dozen trio albums with seven personnel line ups. His thirteenth project in that format, The Unidentifiable, features bassist Michael Bisio ...