Jazz Articles about Matthew Shipp

Matthew Shipp: Tripling the Play

by Lyn Horton
July 22, 2007

When Matthew Shipp was a teenager, he had a job as a cocktail pianist. His motivation was to sound “like any old jazz pianist." He did “what any other jazz pianist would do, that is, study everything you can get your hands on to get a backlog of material which means learning standards." A “religious" inner drive kicked him out of the box: “to be the essence of [his] being" on whatever instrument he played. So the assimilation of all ...

Matthew Shipp: One

by David A. Cobb
January 18, 2006

While Matthew Shipp's more recent releases focus on a mixture of avant garde electronica and trip-hop, he returns to his roots and a back-to-basics approach with the songs on One. The album, the latest release in Thirsty Ear's Blue Series (for which Shipp does A&R work), consists of nothing but a man and his piano, and the result is light, acoustic fare that brings to mind several classics.

Shipp's newer fans may be hesitant to embrace his acoustic side, but ...

Matthew Shipp: One

by Nic Jones
January 17, 2006

It might be argued that the solo piano recital is a fraught thing on record, and certainly there have been examples in the past where self-indulgence has taken over from the rigours of self-editing. Similarly, unless a pianist has at least a reasonably firm musical identity, it might be the case that the listener's attention starts to wander accordingly.

This particular example of the genre largely avoids such hazards, despite the fact that in places the spirits of both Mal ...

Matthew Shipp: Harmony & Abyss

by Sergio Masferrer
January 25, 2005

Matthew Shipp is a musician who can't be easily pigeon-holed. In fact, the only pigeon hole in which he could be placed is as one of the musicians who hold to the greenest and youngest branches of the jazz tree looking for fresh air. In addition to his work with David S. Ware, he has presented contemporary music on albums like Prism (Brinkman Records, 1993) and By The Law Of Music (Hat Hut Records, 1997), as well as hip-hop on ...

Matthew Shipp: Harmony And Abyss

by Mark Sabbatini
November 4, 2004

It's a fairly established music principle: Give Wayne Shorter a cheap student sax and he still sounds like a master. Give Ashlee Simpson a “booster" vocal and she still sounds awful. Gadgets and technology are great, in other words, but don't forget humility pills if the talent isn't there.

Pianist Matthew Shipp digs deeper into the toy box on Harmony And Abyss, using samples and other electronics to advance the adventures into jazztronica that began with 2002's Nu ...

Matthew Shipp: Harmony and Abyss

by John Kelman
September 25, 2004

Following up pianist Matthew Shipp's Equilibrium, a breakthrough record in a career of musical high points, was clearly a difficult challenge. And, to be sure, as revolutionary as Shipp's career has been and as much a shift in direction as Equilibrium was, his new disk, Harmony and Abyss is more of an evolutionary record, taking the concepts of Equilibrium that extra step further.

Reconvening the same group of players, with the exception of vibraphonist Khan Jamal, there's a little less ...

Matthew Shipp Trio: ICA Boston 12/15/01

by AAJ Staff
March 8, 2004

A simple gesture can convey profound symbolic meaning. Matthew Shipp, at the crest of a soaring run on the piano, reaches up into the wood beyond the keys for notes that aren't there. William Parker, deep in eyes-closed meditation, lifts his left leg and shifts his weight into the bass. Whit Dickey swivels his head round and round--always clockwise--as the tension builds at the drum set. Three masters, three personalities, three voices: the melding of Shipp, Parker, and Dickey is ...