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Matthew Shipp: One
Shipp's newer fans may be hesitant to embrace his acoustic side, but the songs on One speak for themselves, and successive listens show that while Shipp definitely enjoys his straight piano work, he is not really covering any new ground. His playing sounds similar to his work on Harmony And Abyss or Equilibrium, sans samples and programmed beats. It's a refreshing departure, actually. "Patmos" and "Milky Way" harken back to George Winston's December (to me at least), while "The Encounter" and "Module" both bring to mind faint touches of McCoy Tyner. Shipp, with twenty-plus years in "the business," may not be as well-known as the legends—at least not yet—but he seems to know where he's going on One and appears content to experiment a bit in order to accomplish his goals.
Some of the songs meander a bit ("The Rose Is A Rose," for example), and the opening "Arc" seems a bit heavy-handed at first listen, but overall Shipp uses the album as an opportunity to express his lighter side—and without the modern aspects of some of his recent work, he's able to reach new heights of jazz piano.
Track Listing
Arc; Patmos; Gamma Ray; Milky Way; Blue In Orion; Electro Magnetism; The Encounter; The Rose Is A Rose; Ieou; Abyss Code; Zero; Module.
Personnel
Matthew Shipp
pianoMatthew Shipp: piano.
Album information
Title: One | Year Released: 2005 | Record Label: Thirsty Ear Recordings
About Matthew Shipp
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