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Gordon Grdina: Pathways
by Mike Jurkovic
Unlike most of our country where we can not even share the same basic facts and truths, musicians intuitively seek out, discover and discourse in an integral, common language. Pathways revels in and celebrates that common vocabulary. Enjoying what could be the most prolific and adventurous period of his Juno Award-winning career, guitarist/oudist Gordon Grdina's sixth recording in just under a year, including the brazenly alluring Boiling Point (Astral Spirits, 2022) and the hypnotic Oddly Enough: The Music ...
Continue ReadingKirk Knuffke: Gravity without Airs
by John Sharpe
The first evidence of cornetist Kirk Knuffke's hook up with Michael Bisio surfaced on the bassist's alluring Accortet (Relative Pitch, 2015), presaging a continuing string of further collaborations. So perhaps it was inevitable that another Bisio mainstay, pianist Matthew Shipp, would enter into the mix at some point. The surprise is that it is on a date under Knuffke's leadership, which has produced the double album Gravity Without Airs, with six cuts credited to the cornetist, while the other eight ...
Continue ReadingGordon Grdina/Mark Helias/Matthew Shipp: Pathways
by Dan McClenaghan
Gordon Grdina, guitarist and oud player, has cranked things up into high gear in terms of CD release productivity. This is a good thing. When artists regularly release albums--two to four or five or six a year, which was common during Blue Note Records' heyday in the late 1950s and early 60s--their artistry evolves more quickly. Grdina, at the halfway mark of 2022, has already offered up four albums for the year, an output that has lifted his artistry into ...
Continue ReadingKirk Knuffke Trio: Gravity without Airs
by Angelo Leonardi
«Mi interessa fare della bella musica--dice il cornettista Kirk Knuffke--Anche se questa è in forma libera e d'avanguardia voglio che arrivi al cuore delle persone. Mi piace suonare veloce, forte e alto ma la bellezza è sempre al primo posto, anche se non in forme preziose. Può esserlo anche in modo ruvido». Sono parole che illustrano bene questo doppio album inciso col pianista Matthew Shipp e il contrabbassista Michael Bisio. Anche se Knuffke ha collaborato più volte ...
Continue ReadingMatthew Shipp Trio: World Construct
by Karl Ackermann
Throughout his long and prolific career, Matthew Shipp has presented several different and impressive trio formations. Among the featured members have been bassists William Parker, and Joe Morris, and drummers Guillermo E. Brown, Whit Dickey, and Susie Ibarra. In 2015, two other premier players, bassist Michael Bisio, and drummer Newman Taylor Baker stepped in as the rhythm section on The Conduct of Jazz (Thirsty Ear). Their fourth album as a unit, World Construct makes the group the most enduring of ...
Continue ReadingDaniel Carter / Matthew Shipp / William Parker / Gerald Cleaver: Welcome Adventure! Vol. 2
by John Sharpe
Such is the magic of free jazz that even when uniting known quantities, the outcomes can still surprise and enchant. Welcome Adventure! Vol. 2 constitutes the second release from an October 2019 session which brought together four seasoned veterans of the NYC scene in reedman Daniel Carter, pianist Matthew Shipp, bassist William Parker and drummer Gerald Cleaver. Given countless prior collaborations, in all manner of permutations, it's not a bombshell that they form such a flexible and empathetic unit on ...
Continue ReadingMichael Bisio & Matthew Shipp: The Flow of Everything
by John Sharpe
Bassist Michael Bisio and pianist Matthew Shipp have enjoyed a near symbiotic relationship, ever since the former joined the latter's trio in 2009. The Flow Of Everything constitutes their third recording as a duet, following on from Floating Ice (Relative Pitch, 2012) and Live In Seattle (Arena Music Promotion, 2016), and maintains the preternaturally high standards they have set in the interim. Unsurprising as the pair represent two of the supreme stylists on their respective instruments, united by a go-anywhere ...
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