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Matthew Shipp Trio: Piano Song

By Mark Corroto
January 21, 2017
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The finest compliment you can pay an artist is that his music is instantly recognized in a blindfold test. Sure, back in the day most experienced listeners could identify a

Bud Powell

piano
1924 - 1966

" data-original-title="" title="">Bud Powell,

Bill Evans

piano
1929 - 1980

" data-original-title="" title="">Bill Evans, or

" data-original-title="" title="">Oscar Peterson recording. It's just, these days, there are so many Powell, Evans, and Peterson soundalikes, schooled in the art of emulation, that identity is no longer a prized commodity. That is, unless you value an original voice, one like that of Matthew Shipp.

Of course, recognition requires listening. If you have the opportunity, there have been plenty of Shipp recordings with which to become acquainted. Since the late 1980s, he has led or collaborated on 150+ sessions with

David S. Ware

saxophone, tenor
1949 - 2012

" data-original-title="" title="">David S. Ware,

Ivo Perelman

saxophone, tenor
b.1961

" data-original-title="" title="">Ivo Perelman,

William Parker

bass
b.1952

" data-original-title="" title="">William Parker,

Joe Morris

bass, acoustic
b.1955

" data-original-title="" title="">Joe Morris and

Mat Maneri

viola
b.1969

" data-original-title="" title="">Mat Maneri, to name just a few. Although his solo outings are becoming legendary, it is his piano trio (traditional piano/bass/drums) recordings that will cement his role in the history of jazz, such that, in twenty years the next crop of young lions will be Shipp impersonators.

That sound I speak of is immediately apparent in the opening solo piece. "Links" places the listener between the structure of classical piano and the possibilities of improvisation. Like a Zen ens�� painting, his formal structure is hand drawn with an uninhibited delivery. Shipp immediately dives into the trio setting with "Cosmo," which opens with

Michael Bisio

bass, acoustic

" data-original-title="" title="">Michael Bisio's reference to

Miles Davis

trumpet
1926 - 1991

" data-original-title="" title="">Miles Davis' "So What," before scattering the orthodoxy into his signature Shipp-isms of dense clusters and hammered blocks. All of which recall the same criticism once made about

Thelonious Monk

piano
1917 - 1982

" data-original-title="" title="">Thelonious Monk "He plays wrong notes," which later was regarded as genius.

This trio is a fine starting place to step into the river that is Shipp's music. Besides long time collaborator Bisio, Shipp has reformed his trio adding drummer

Newman Taylor Baker

percussion

" data-original-title="" title="">Newman Taylor Baker. This disc, his last for Thirsty Ear, follows The Conduct Of Jazz (2015). The music is flawlessly arranged from the Shipp solo to a chest pounding duo "Scramble Brain" between Bisio and Baker, and the ten trio pieces. "Microwave" takes its cues from Bernard Herrmann's soundtrack for the movie "Psycho," spoken in the deconstruction of this trio. "Mind Space" connects rattling disparate pieces with logic, and the quietness of "Void Of Sea" aches with a dense world-weariness. The signature piece of the recording is "Gravity Point," a Shipp vehicle packed with fevered runs and hairpin turns. Music metamorphoses from dissonance into harmony, through the unique vernacular that is Matthew Shipp.

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Track Listing

Links; Cosmopolitan; Blue Desert; Silence Of; Flying Carpet; Scrambled Brain; Microwave; Mind Space; Void of Sea; The Nature Of; Gravity Point; Piano Song.

Personnel

Matthew Shipp

piano

Matthew Shipp: piano; Michael Bisio: bass; Newman Taylor Baker: drums.

Album information

Title: Piano Song | Year Released: 2017 | Record Label: Thirsty Ear Recordings

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