Home » Jazz Articles » Live Review » Matthew Shipp Quartet with Paul Dunmall: London, September 8, 2011
Matthew Shipp Quartet with Paul Dunmall: London, September 8, 2011
The Vortex
London
September 8, 2011
For a growing number of American improvisers, London is becoming a home away from home. Trumpeter
Wadada Leo Smith
trumpetb.1941
Ken Vandermark
saxophoneb.1964
Joe McPhee
woodwindsb.1939
Matthew Shipp
pianob.1960
Spring Heel Jack
band / ensemble / orchestraHis latest sojourn comprised a two night residency at north London's Vortex in different combinations. Having reprised his duet with
Evan Parker
saxophone, sopranob.1944
Paul Dunmall
saxophoneb.1953
John Edwards
bass, acoustic
Mark Sanders
drumsb.1960
Even though the American is widely recognized as one of the preeminent pianists of his generation, affirmed on Art Of The Improviser (Thirsty Ear, 2011), the most recent in a string of outstanding releases, this was no star with sidemen date. It helped that his colleagues were stellar improvisers themselves. Over the course of two sets they exhibited all the virtues of free jazz: powerhouse collective blowing; big ears and speedy reactions; a shared lexicon derived from the source material of
Albert Ayler
saxophone, tenor1936 - 1970
John Coltrane
saxophone1926 - 1967
Shipp fully integrated himself into the ensemble, sometimes selflessly fanning Dunmall's flames with resounding chordal undercurrents, on occasion sitting out completely. At other times he inserted and even imposed his insistent motifs and characteristic bass-register thunder, pounding with the flats and heels of his hands in ways which conjured cohesion from thin air, creating a substructure that the others could play against. But it wasn't all hurricane force. In between the peaks, Shipp delicately swiped at the keyboard, his fingers prancing and extracting fragments of melody, repeated until they took on an obsessive depth, ready to fuel the next raucous group colloquy.
From left: Paul Dunmall, John Edwards Dunmall proved to be particularly inspired on both tenor and soprano saxophones: already the go-to guy for visiting avant-gardists wanting top drawer interaction (including McPhee, bassist
Henry Grimes
bass, acoustic1935 - 2020
Shoji Hano
drumsEven though the ensembles tended towards density, that didn't quite mask some astounding timbral detail. Edwards, as ever, ran a marathon on bass, playing with the utmost physicality. His solo spots married percussive and melodic arguments in a panoply of ear-grabbing textures, utilizing whatever technique seemed appropriate, as when he threaded his bow through the strings, adding twanging overtones to his rhythmic plucking. Sanders' features were a continuation of his approach throughout: energy channeled through constantly varied tuned drum and cymbal patterns, but then also morphing into quieter sections with texture to the fore, as shown by his use of devices such as a wooden block with small cymbals, placed on the skin of his floor tom to modulate and alter the vibration.
Even with such wonderful parts, the whole was greater, as exemplified by the quicksilver pas de deux between Dunmall and Shipp which began the second piece in first set. Shipp settled on a pattern which provided the port of entry for drums and bass and propelled the reedman into a skittering, rapid-fire excursion. A crescendo of overblown shrieks acted as a fulcrum, tipping Shipp's comping to mirror the reedman's hyper-fast staccato. Similarly the start of the second set illustrated how easily inspiration might be gleaned: at one point Sanders struck his drums with a tiny finger cymbal to achieve a clipped reverberation, which Shipp somehow echoed on the piano, flicking his hands from the keys outwards to replicate the sonority, before adopting it as a motif which once more launched Dunmall's high-intensity soprano saxophone, peppered with some astonishing vocalized cries.
Mark SandersBoth sets of Shipp's gig with Parker the previous day were recorded along with a studio session the afternoon of this concert for release on the Paris-based Rogue Art label in 2013. Any aspiring producer looking for new pleasures in the meantime could do much worse that document this fabulous quartet.
Photo Credit
All Photos: John Sharpe
Tags
Matthew Shipp
Live Reviews
John Sharpe
Wadada Leo Smith
Ken Vandermark
Joe McPhee
Spring Heel Jack
evan parker
Paul Dunmall
John Edwards
Mark Sanders
Albert Ayler
John Coltrane
Henry Grimes
Shoji Hano
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