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Rich Halley: The Shape Of Things
ByHalley's NYC running mates are pianist Matthew Shippa player possessed of his own idiosyncratic intensitybassist Michael Bisio and drummer Newman Taylor Baker. Before his 2018 hookup with these guys, Halley had rarely gone onto the bandstand or into the recording studio with a pianist in tow. Maybe finding a place inside Halley's torrential style played out as problematic for the more faint of heart eighty-eighters. Or maybe Halley just likes the chord-less freedom that going pianoless affords. This is speculation, of course, but a couple of things are obvious about Matthew Shipp: he doesn't fit into the "faint of heart" groupinghe can go head-to-head with pretty much anybody "out there"and in spite of boasting Halley-sized, in-your-face capabilities, Shipp can also be counted on to engage in nuance, intricate subtleties and straight ahead beauty, to go along with his bold ability to engage in a tumultuous, rumble-in-the-alley interplay with Halley, Bisio and Baker.
So what do we have here with The Shape Of Things? It opens with 'Tetrahedron," a clamorous, wailing diatribe, with Halley and Shipp sounding like a pair of fire and brimstone preachers bordering on derangement, brimming with and spewing the Holy Spirit. Then the the band pulls back about seven minutes in, shifting into a dark, moody, balladic frame of mind, with Halley channeling his inner Ben Webster, while Shipp escapes gravity's usually relentless grip, creating notes and chords that sound like bird flight, before the intensity cranks up again and the Earth's pull reasserting itself.
"Vector" rolls into a near mainstream groove initially, with Shipp sounding assured and centered in the vortex of a good time, while "The Curved Horizon" erupts from the get-go, Halley blowing off the hot steam that rises from the liquified magma, while Shipp, Bisio and Baker launch flaming rocks in a three hundred and sixty degree circle as the Earth quakes, and a post-explosion sea of rhythm section lava flows down the mountainside.
As always with Rich Halley, it is a wild ride and rewarding ride. Strap yourself into the listening chair and hold on.
Track Listing
Tetrahedron; Vector; Spaces Between; Oblique Angles; Lower Strata; The Curved Horizon.
Personnel
Rich Halley
saxophone, tenorMatthew Shipp
pianoMichael Bisio
bass, acousticNewman Taylor Baker
percussionAlbum information
Title: The Shape Of Things | Year Released: 2020 | Record Label: Pine Eagle Records
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About Rich Halley
Instrument: Saxophone, tenor
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Album Review
Dan McClenaghan
Braithwaite & Katz Communications
The Shape Of Things
Pine Eagle Records
Rich Halley
Matthew Shipp
Michael Bisio
Newman Taylor Baker