Ivo Perelman: Special Edition Box: Procedural Language

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 a wistfully lyrical ambience. Within this contemplative atmosphere the spontaneous flow of ideas between the two musicians maintains a thematic cohesiveness while going through dynamic transformation.

Shipp opens the album with dense resonant chords that echo hauntingly in the intervening silence. Perelman enters with expressive and melancholic phrases. His forlorn, reverberating tenor wails against Shipp's bittersweet chimes. This elegantly elegiac first track, the longest of the batch, shimmers with dark hues as it concludes with solemnity.

The closing tune, in contrast, is far more angular. Shipp's swift and muscular cascades complement Perelman's crystalline melody. Perelman builds his improvisation with sharp, acerbic sonic fragments while Shipp imbues his with a pensively bluesy touch. A subtle angst drives this stimulating conversation that, nevertheless, ends on a hopeful tone.

In between these two pieces, other tracks maintain a dramatic sense. For instance, the fourth, despite its serene start, quickly develops a restless undercurrent. Perelman lets loose taut lines that Shipp punctuates with sparse keys creating an expectant mood. The two intricately interwoven stream-of-consciousness soliloquies are electrifying and somber.

This apprehensive energy ebbs and flows as the music progresses. Track six features Perelman's fiery, passionate saxophone. Shipp contributes punch-like explosive clusters. Each person's extemporization augments the other. Similarly, the tenth track is a spirited repartee with the two men alternating between exploring the scales and pushing their instruments' boundaries. The piece, nevertheless, ends with poetic quietude.

As with Perelman and Shipp's past collaborations, Procedural Language, is a brilliant showcase of individual eloquence and thrilling camaraderie. It is an enthralling exploration of both ideas and feelings, blurring the difference between the two.

The video disc, Live in Sao Paolo At the Sesc, is a film of a concert that occurred on July 11th 2019. It is directed by Jodele Larcher. In contrast to the CD the music here is more extroverted and in the form of a single, about one hour long, continuous improvisation. Perelman and Shipp create a kaleidoscopic and fluid dialogue that is simultaneously earthy and ethereal and replete with inventive leitmotifs.

The duo's energetic exchanges start the performance with a vibrant lyricism. Perelman's agile and serpentine lines interweave with Shipp's percussive chords and furious sonic floods. The angular and passionate performance moves from fiery exuberance to serene spirituality with suave eloquence. Shipp infuses his unique pianism with soulfulness and boppish phrases, while Perelman's tenor musings stimulate with their delightfully unexpected trajectories and rouse with their emotive breadth. The pair intricately construct their improvisations out of jagged melodic shards and bittersweet, contemplative phrases with seemingly effortless ease.

The film matches the music with its subtle elegance. Fluidly alternating segments of each musician performing with those of both on stage, Larcher builds a visual narrative that evokes the atmosphere of the event.

The third component of the release is Embrace of the Souls, a booklet by Belgian vocalist Jean Michel van Schouwburg. It includes insightful essays he contributed to several of Perelman and Shipp's past releases. Erudite and perceptive, Van Schouwburg writes with engaging panache about this superlative music. He characterizes Shipp's and Perelman's partnership as "an empathetic bond" and an "unstable equilibrium." Elsewhere, commenting on the duo's Live in Brussels (Leo, 2017), he describes the music with these imaginative and accurate sentences; "Shipp constructs a building using architecture invented in an instant..." and "Perelman adds color...deepening perspectives, creating shadows that spin...." In addition to brief statements from each of the artists the book includes liner notes Van Schouwburg penned for several Perelman/Shipp collaborations and for a couple that feature each artist in other ensembles.

Special Edition Box is a superb release and an innovative, multimedia way to experience this brilliant duo's unique work.

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