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Matthew Shipp / Whit Dickey: Reels
ByThe album opens with "Lattice," a mesmerizing composition with the feel of Satie's "furniture music," meeting idiosyncratic rhythm. Taken with the closing piece, "Icing," the two serve as bookends for some agitated improvisations. The daggers come out with "Cosmic Train" and "Hold Tight," angular studies which see Shipp and Dickey putting fine points on their synergistic passages. Moods vary, as evidenced by the obsidian "Moon Garden" and "Fire Dance," where Shipp and Dickey send notes flying like musical shrapnel. Throughout "Vector," "Silent Ice," and the title track, Shipp and Dickey alternate between intricate and dense; free improvisation and classical influences.
Shipp and Dickey embody the gray area where free jazz, avant-garde, and lyricism meet. These ten intriguing pieces push the scope of resonance and language for a piano-drum formation that occupies that undefinable space. The duo invites the listener to a momentary, alternate universe with the backdrop of powerful performances, fractured rhythms, melodies, and gripping concepts.
Track Listing
Lattice; Cosmic Train; Hold Tight; Moon Garden; Fire Dance; Vector; Magma; Silent Ice; Reels; Icing.
Personnel
Matthew Shipp
pianoWhit Dickey
drumsAlbum information
Title: Reels | Year Released: 2021 | Record Label: Burning Ambulance Music
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