The rather prolific Matthew Shipp is the most relevant jazz pianist of the last few decades. With more than 85 releases of bold ‘n’ brave music as a solo performer and in duo/ trio/quartet formats alongside the avantish jazz likes of the David S. Ware Quartet, Ivo Perelman, Sabir Mateen, Darius Jones, Joe Morris, Jemeel Moondoc, Mat Walerian and two tons of others, he hasn’t had time to take a vacation. Several years ago Shipp told me he was thinking of retiring from recording, because, he said, there was just too much music out there in consumer land. I’m glad […]

Continue reading » Matthew Shipp Trio’s Signature

The notional existence of the musical theories and concepts of the music of Matthew Shipp dissolve very quickly from their abstract entities to concrete one the moment notes are sounded. Each individual one and the clusters they form in phrases and lines morph into the appearance of the footfalls of dancers in some mystical ballet, leaping into the air, pirouetting dizzily, leaping again and then seeming to fall in patterns that at first seem unruly. Soon, however, short dramatic vignettes emerge, as well as some longer narratives. No matter what we hear it is invariably something magical appears as each […]

Continue reading » Matthew Shipp: Symbol Systems

There has always been a connection between Thelonious Monk and Matthew Shipp, just not in the music they play. Monk, a student of Harlem stride piano, was present at the birth of bebop. Shipp, born in 1960, has always been associated with the avant-garde, free jazz and improvisation. The connection between the two pianists is their creation of a distinctive and personal language. Monk’s melodic twists were foreign to many listeners and were put down as being weird and unconventional. It may be surprising today to read reviews of Monk’s music from back in the day describing his playing “wrong […]

Continue reading » Matthew Shipp: Zero

Ever since bursting onto the New York scene from the New England Conservatory of Music in 1984, pianist Matthew Shipp has reigned supreme as one of the most individual and iconoclastic improvisers of his generation. Grounded in, but not limited to, the avant-garde, Shipp has recorded more than 50 recordings that have defined and redefined the stylistic parameters of that idiom. While doing so, he has become equally known for his caustic outbursts against what he feels is an aesthetically rigid jazz establishment. I grew up with Shipp in Wilmington, Delaware, and, like him, spent much of my youth listening […]

Continue reading » Q&A with Matthew Shipp: On Home Turf

Depending on your perspective, tradition can both be a blessing and a burden. Especially in jazz, it is hard to say something new and this is true as well when it comes to the noble art of the piano trio. Thelonious Monk has been there, Bill Evans has been there and Cecil Taylor has been there—just to name a few innovators. It has become harder to identify gigantic stylistic leaps, but subtle innovations happen all the time. Recently, pianists like Eri Yamamoto, John Law, Paula Shocron and Marc Copland have continued to refine the language of the tangents. Thankfully, the […]

Continue reading » Matthew Shipp Trio: Piano Song

Recently, I re-read Concerning the Spiritual in Art by Wassily Kandinsky. I don’t remember how many times I’ve read this book. There are a few Bible-like books and writings (on art) that I return to whenever I have a need to re-check my own viewpoint. I read these books in order to regain my sanity in the midst of the muddy, messy and murky environment of the world we live in. Right before “Conclusion” at the end of the book, in the section titled “Art and Artists,” he talks of the purpose and responsibility of “being an artist.” The work […]

Continue reading » A Matthew Shipp Appreciation from Yuko Otomo

I’ve seen a ton of shows since moving to Nashville 15 years ago, but pianist Matthew Shipp’s 2006 solo set at a church on Indiana Avenue still stands out as the most mind-blowing performance I’ve witnessed. It was an astonishing display, as if he had consumed the entirety of popular music, broken it down to its genetic code, then reassembled the DNA into a seemingly infinite number of mutations: familiar, delicate, unnerving, harmonically dense, nostalgic, atonal, pulsating, arrhythmic — and that was just the first 60 seconds. Classical allusions, straight-ahead jazz changes and simple melodies would emerge out of cacophony, […]

Continue reading » Don’t Miss Avant-Jazz Legend Matthew Shipp with Lambchop Saturday at VFW

I should start out this review by admitting that I know nothing about jazz. There are, of course, musicians I appreciate but in terms of the genre I am, sadly, ignorant. I have heard Matt play and I have a few of his solo recordings and I have made my own subjective notes about them, but that is not what I’ll be doing in this book review. I can’t add very much to Yuko Otomo’s in-depth introduction, but I will try to address some of the themes Matt brings up as he discusses the work of various musicians and how […]

Continue reading » Black Mystery School Pianists (and other writings) by Matt Shipp – Reviewed