Jazz Articles about Whit Dickey

Whit Dickey/Kirk Knuffke: Drone Dream

by John Sharpe
August 18, 2019

Duets with drummers form the bedrock of cornetist Kirk Knuffke's whole musical experience, ever since jamming with a friend in high school. Consequently, Drone Dream constitutes the third such twosome to appear in his discography. And he obviously finds drummer Whit Dickey--still best known for his tenure with fiery saxophonist David S. Ware and adventurous pianist Matthew Shipp--a sympathetic foil as it's the second entry with him behind the traps, following on from Fierce Silence (Clean Feed, 2016). The wonderful ...

Whit Dickey/Tao Quartets: Peace Planet & Box of Light

by Don Phipps
July 21, 2019

Shimmering contrasts and flights of fancy await the listener of these fine sets of free playing put together by primary composer and drummer extraordinaire Whit Dickey. Available as a double album, Dickey's Tao Quartets' Peace Planet & Box of Light is really two separate albums. One, (Peace Planet ), features a quartet of Dickey, Matthew Shipp on piano, Rob Brown on alto saxophone, and William Parker on bass. The other, (Box of Light ), replaces Shipp's piano with Steve Swell's ...

Whit Dickey, Mat Maneri, Matthew Shipp: Vessel in Orbit

by Giuseppe Segala
February 15, 2018

Il vascello in orbita, Vessel In Orbit, è un'immagine vivida per questa nuova realizzazione del batterista Whit Dickey, solista che fin dagli anni Novanta ha legato le proprie audaci navigazioni alla galassia del compianto David S. Ware, nel quartetto con Matthew Shipp al pianoforte e William Parker al contrabbasso. Sebbene il CD ponga sullo stesso piano nella copertina i nomi di Dickey, Mat Maneri e Shipp, elencandoli in ordine alfabetico, si evince che del lavoro sia titolare il batterista, che ...

Whit Dickey: Vessel in Orbit

by Don Phipps
January 19, 2018

From the first chord struck on “Spaceship 9" by pianist Matthew Shipp, Vessel in Orbit demonstrates the epitome of seasoned and extremely talented musicians improvising together. This trio, led by drummer Whit Dickey, provides musical compositions and improvisations that are at once eerie, dark, foreboding, yet hauntingly beautiful. The recording (engineered admirably by Jim Clouse) offers up a fascinating portrait of Dickey's colorful prowess across the trap set, violist Mat Maneri's abstract lyricism, and Shipp's constant accents, plucks, ...

Whit Dickey: Coalescence

by Clifford Allen
July 10, 2004

Whether journeymen or singular voices on their instrument, drummer-leaders are often afforded a unique opportunity for “stepping out." Sunny Murray was the percussionist who one thought might just disappear behind Ayler and Cecil in the '60s, yet as a leader he exemplified a relentless sonic force both instrumentally and compositionally. Ronnie Scott gave Tony Oxley his first sideman recordings, but it was not long after that his extraordinarily vanguard ensemble concepts and altered percussive technique graced his sides as a ...

Whit Dickey/Trio Ahxoloxha: Prophet Moon

by AAJ Staff
March 24, 2003

The three players who make up Trio Ahxoloxha have long been musical intimates and regular participants on the New York free jazz scene. Drummer Whit Dickey, guitarist Joe Morris, and alto saxophonist Rob Brown united for the 1993 record Youniverse, and they've also intermingled on records by Morris, Dickey, and Matthew Shipp. The intimacy this shared association affords is what drives Prophet Moon.

While Dickey serves as the formal leader of this date (and it's his compositions that ...