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Whit Dickey / William Parker / Matthew Shipp: Village Mothership
by Mark Corroto
If drummer Whit Dickey, bassist William Parker, and pianist Matthew Shipp were a rock band, we might expect them to cover their classic album Circular Temple (Quinton Records, 1992) an LP, later re-released on the Infinite Zero label in 1994. Of course they are not a rock band, but If they were, we probably would demand they perform the music on Circular Temple in the exact same manner as it sounded three decades earlier. But that's just not the way ...
Continue ReadingMatthew Shipp / William Parker: Re-Union
by John Sharpe
Some thirty years after they first recorded together as part of saxophonist David S. Ware's celebrated Quartet, pianist Matthew Shipp and bassist William Parker convened once more in a Paris studio for Re-Union. And though their signature styles have become familiar in the interim thanks to sizeable discographies and frequent collaborations, the pair's ultra-refined chemistry remains as potent as ever. Their intimate dialogue both entices and enthralls on the four snatched-from-the-air inventions here, engendering a smile of recognition and a ...
Continue ReadingWilliam Parker - Matthew Shipp: Re-Union
by Karl Ackermann
Matthew Shipp and William Parker are in a space which they arrived at more or less together. The pair first recorded together with the quartet on David S. Ware's Great Bliss, Vol. 1 (Silkheart, 1991). Not long afterwards, in 1994, they released Zo, the first of their duo projects, on the now-defunct Rise label; it was reissued on Thirsty Ear in 2016 during Shipp's tenure as the label's artistic director. In a compact setting, that early effort allowed listeners a ...
Continue ReadingThe Tao Of Matthew Shipp
by Mark Corroto
To borrow a line from Mark Twain, the reports of Matthew Shipp's retirement have been greatly exaggerated. Some years back, the pianist announced his retirement from recording, only to make a comeback. The second time he reiterated that statement, he told us that be would only be touring and playing solo concerts. Not quite “The Boy Who Cried Wolf" from Aesop's Fables, Shipp has backtracked from his earlier declarations. Maybe it was the pandemic and his inability to move about ...
Continue ReadingIvo Perelman: Special Edition Box: Procedural Language
by Hrayr Attarian
Saxophonist Ivo Perelman and pianist Matthew Shipp have a long-standing creative partnership. It has resulted in a large and luminous discography. The latest addition to it is the splendid Special Edition Box, a release limited to 360 numbered units. The box contains a CD, a Blu-ray disc and a book, all rganized in a handsomely designed case. The audio component is a studio recording called Procedural Language. It is an introspective set of a dozen untitled duets with ...
Continue ReadingMatthew Shipp / Whit Dickey: Reels
by Karl Ackermann
Matthew Shipp has managed his way through the 2020-2021 pandemic nicely, thanks in part to a substantial cache of excellent material. Free-jazz drummer Whit Dickey has been working with Shipp for decades, beginning with David S. Ware's quartet. Since 2012 Shipp and Dickey have worked frequently with Brazilian saxophonist Ivo Perelman. Dickey has been part of Shipp's trio and, in 2020, the pair teamed for a duo/trio release, Morph (ESP Disk). The duo debut was half of a double-disk set ...
Continue ReadingEast Axis: Cool With That
by Karl Ackermann
Free improvisation has a special place in a polarized world. It accepts and rejects jazz culture in an ebb and flow of unprompted ideas. On the album Cool With That we get the essence of the music's history from the inside, out. The quartet East Axis is new in name but the unit has been in place for several years and its members are well-known. Pianist Matthew Shipp, saxophonist Allen Lowe, bassist Kevin Ray and drummer Gerald Cleaver are at ...
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