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Jazz Articles about Matthew Shipp
Rich Halley: The Shape Of Things
by Dan McClenaghan
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 ...
Continue ReadingMatthew Shipp - Rob Brown: Then Now
by Karl Ackermann
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 ...
Continue ReadingMatthew Shipp / Rob Brown: Then Now
by John Sharpe
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 ...
Continue ReadingMatthew Shipp: The Unidentifiable
by Dan McClenaghan
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?
Continue ReadingRob Brown - Matthew Shipp: Then Now
by Glenn Astarita
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 ...
Continue ReadingMatthew Shipp Trio: The Unidentifiable
by Karl Ackermann
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 ...
Continue ReadingIvo Perelman / Matthew Shipp: Amalgam
by John Sharpe
Amalgam constitutes the seventeenth disc, spread across ten albums from the near symbiotic union of Brooklyn-based Brazilian tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman and American pianist Matthew Shipp. And that doesn't even touch on Perelman's many trio and quartet dates which include Shipp. So it's fair to say that they know each other's unique styles fairly well by now. Even so each session seems to refine and expose new facets of their interplay. While previously documented encounters like Live In Nuremburg have ...
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