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Matthew Shipp: The Piano Equation
by Mark Corroto
Let the celebration of pianist Matthew Shipp's 60th birthday year 2020 commence with The Piano Equation. Having released a dozen or so prior solo sessions, this also is a recording sans nostalgia. Shipp, like Cecil Taylor, Sun Ra, or Thelonious Monk before him, does not pine for the past, but ceaselessly forges a path onward. And outward. As with the esteemed masters listed above, Shipp has created his own piano language, best described as a percussive decoding of ...
Continue ReadingMatthew Shipp: The Piano Equation
by Karl Ackermann
Matthew Shipp is like an engineer from another dimension. In three decades of making music, he maintains an inquisitiveness for expanding new dialects and an aptitude for blending composition and exploration. Marking his sixtieth birthday, The Piano Equation reveals the pianist contemplating past experiments if only as a platform for the future; a foundation for yet another new conception. Seeing words like “equation," “vortex," or “cosmic" in Shipp's titles points to a theoretical approach that the composer's loyal audiences are ...
Continue ReadingMatthew Shipp: The Piano Equation
by Dan McClenaghan
A sixtieth birthday might be greeted as a time of reflection, a looking back on a life well-lived. Or it might serve as a call to action, as it did for pianist Satoko Fujii as she celebrated her sixtieth trip around the sun by releasing twelve albums in 2018. Matthew Shipp also answers the call to action at hitting that six decade mark, though he probably won't take things as far as Fujii did. But who knows? He is a ...
Continue ReadingWhit Dickey: Tao Quartets: Peace Planet & Box of Light
by Giuseppe Segala
Possiamo dire che l'assioma secondo il quale tutti i jazzisti sono sottovalutati, non sia poi così paradossale. Parliamo naturalmente dei musicisti che mettono al primo posto del loro operato il fare artistico e non la realizzazione di un prodotto solo ben accetto sul mercato. Spesso ci troviamo di fronte a musicisti che subiscono tale disattenzione in modo ancora più evidente, se confrontata alla mole e alla qualità del loro lavoro. Quest'ultimo concetto è sottolineato da Clifford Allen nelle ampie note ...
Continue ReadingMatthew Shipp String Trio: Symbolic Reality
by Karl Ackermann
Of the many formations in which Matthew Shipp works, his string trio is one of the most eclectic and appealing. Mat Maneri, William Parker and Shipp have covered the breadth of progressive improvised music from chamber to noise. Shipp has dabbled in electronica and hip-hop, but more often in the genre-less manner which makes him stand apart. Maneri has collaborated with a wide range of artists including Cecil Taylor, Paul Motian and Club d'Elf. Parker's resume includes recordings with artists ...
Continue ReadingMatthew Shipp - Nate Wooley: What If?
by Karl Ackermann
Matthew Shipp and Nate Wooley have played together on two Ivo Perelman releases, Philosopher's Stone (Leo Records, 2017) and Strings 4 (Leo Records, 2019). Between those albums, Shipp contributed to the Wooley-produced New American Songbooks, Volume 2 (Pleasure of Text Records, 2018), a compilation of piano works that also included Kris Davis, Matt Mitchell and Aruán Ortiz. What If? is the first time the pianist and trumpeter have recorded as a duo, and they are a formidable avant-garde team.
Continue ReadingMatthew Shipp / Nate Wooley: What If?
by Mark Corroto
Sixty years after Miles Davis recorded “So What" during his Kind Of Blue (Columbia, 1959) sessions, the duo of pianist Matthew Shipp and trumpeter Nate Wooley ask the question What If?, as in, “What if, in the 21st century, all music was free?" Free as in free range, without prejudgement, unbiased and without partisanship. Those are lofty goals indeed, but this first-ever duo session between the two virtuosos aims for the stars. And there is liftoff on these ...
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