js Despite the many albums he has put out, its hard to think of one bum one from Matthew Shipp. The consistent quality is always there, but if you really want to hear what Shipp is capable of, you’ll want to go with his solo works. The group albums are usually good, and often great, but the music on these albums tends to be very busy and full, and Matthew’s voice has to compete against saxophones, drums and all manner of noise. On his solo albums, the runway is all clear and all we hear is how much space Shipp can fill up all by himself. Matthew comes from that old school two-fisted piano tradition of Art Tatum in which the piano is made to replicate an orchestra complete with many intertwining lines and big thick harmonies. To that foundation Shipp adds Cecil Taylor influenced atonal excursions as well as elements from the world of classical music ranging from Chopin to Charles Ives and Stockhausen.

“Zero” is Shipp’s latest solo recoding and finds him sitting in a studio and knocking out eleven improvisations that are presented on the CD without much break. Each track tends to be in a distinctly different style, so if you are listening closely, you will probably notice when a new track is on. If this CD is just playing in the background, then it will probably sound like one long piece. Matthew’s playing is somewhat different on “Zero“, more relaxed and less harsh or busy. Many passages contain material that may sound familiar, including elements of bop, blues and classical music. The end result is that this is a CD where its easier to follow how brilliant Matthew is at working ideas inside and out in mind boggling variations and just taking a strain of logic about as far as it can go. Instead of bombarding us with just how much he can be, Matthew instead gives us something to latch on to, something that takes our minds on a ride.

js With such an abundance of talented jazz pianists these days, its hard for anyone to rise above the pack, but more than likely, as we move forward in time, music history will be very kind to Matthew Shipp. A powerhouse performer, Shipp’s improvisations embrace the world of modern jazz and hint at contemporary concert hall composition, while wrapping all this up into a musical language that sounds like no one else. Although Matthew is known to engage in spirited free improvisations with many stars of the free improv world, when playing on his own, his music takes on a different character, not so much free improvisation as spontaneous composition. Much like one of his favorite influences, Cecil Taylor, Shipp’s constructs pour out at a furious pace, yet always seem to contain a sort of logic found in the best of contemporary composers. It’s in his solo works that the true mind of Shipp is able to take shape, and that is one of the many things that make “Invisible Touch at Taktlos Zurich” such a special offering, this is Matthew all by himself in a live setting, a pure un-distilled outpouring from a modern genius.

In his own words, Shipp claims that while he was developing his musical language, he decided to ignore the popular post-bop trio of Bill Evans, Keith Jarret and Herbie Hancock, and instead focused on an older musical language of the bop and pre-bop pianists such as Thelonius Monk, Duke Ellington and Art Tatum. Herein lies one of Matthew’s big differences within the modern jazz world, his playing harks back to an earlier age when the solo pianist was meant to be a mini-orchestra with a huge two handed sound that filled up space. This is not the ‘less is more’ approach of the post bop crowd, this is the ‘more is more’, and plenty more where that came from approach. As we listen to the eleven cuts on this CD, our mind becomes occupied by musical ideas that fly by at a rapid rate, yet these ideas never lose a sense of purpose, every note that is needed is there. Along with the aforementioned jazz influences, one can also hear 20th century composers such as Charles Ives, Arnold Schoenberg and Henry Cowell, but this is no pastiche approach, every influence is blended into a seamless whole.

This is an unusual concert in that Matthew does not take a break between songs, which can be a plus or a minus. The plus being that this whole concert becomes like an ocean of musical ideas to immerse yourself in, with the minus being that some of the individual songs loose their individuality as they become swamped by the entire mass of music. Two tracks in particular might have been more powerful had they stood on their own, one being the imaginative reading of the standard, “Tenderly”, in which the original melody battles with a more dissonant counter melody, and the almost romantic “Blue in Orion’, which is quite different from the other tracks. Still, with all the tracks blended, we can see how some similar devices show up in more than one piece, such as Matthew’s thunderous low end tone clusters, and his skittering two voiced scattered polyphony.

For those who have not checked him out yet, this album makes for a great introduction to the world of Matthew Shipp and comes highly recommended for fans of modern jazz, as well as fans of modern concert hall music as well.

js Possibly one of the most prolific producers of new CDs in the world of jazz, Matthew Shipp seems to be coming up with almost three or more albums every year. With such an abundant flow of output, one is tempted to question the quality of Shipp’s work, but if “The Conduct of Jazz” is any indicator, Matthew continues to hold high standards for each and every new CD he puts out. “The Conduct of Jazz”, like much of Shipp’s music, falls roughly into an area we can call ‘avant-garde jazz’, but this music really does not sound much like any one else who might fall under the same genre umbrella. Instead, Shipp and his trio continue to make music that exists in a world all its own.

There is so much variety on here, each track opens a door to a unique musical universe. After the opening procession of “Insensitive Touch”, the CD’s title track follows with some obvious references to Monk’s music, but mixed up with Shipp’s trio’s ability to play in different, but related tempos at the same time. The following two cuts are almost more like concert hall pieces, but not in any formal way, but more in the fact that we are far from be-bop here, or anything that most people would call ‘avant-garde jazz’ for that matter. Both of these tracks display constructions that suggest structure mixed with improv.

On track five, “Stream of Light”, Shipp plays something that you could almost call jazz-rock, his piano pounding on this one might have something in common with some recent work by Robert Glasper. Track six is a real treat as Shipp plays piano alone and produces a lush, almost romantic ballad that sounds like Art Tatum run through a blender. Album closer, “The Bridge Across”, is familiar territory for most fans of ‘free jazz’, if there is such a thing as “traditional” avant-garde jazz, this would be it.

“The Conduct of Jazz” is yet one more outstanding album for Matthew Shipp this year, and is highly recommended for his fans, or the curious wanting to check out his music for the first time. Its also recommended for those who want to hear modern innovative music that sounds like no one else.

js It seems the inevitable Duke Ellington tribute album has become a rite of passage for major jazz performers, so it comes as no big surprise that one of today’s top musicians, Matthew Shipp, has taken on the formidable task of re-interpreting the works of the master on Shipp’s new CD, “To Duke”. Shipp is a fairly diverse and unpredictable artist, so there was no telling which way he was going to take Duke’s music. Would he go totally avant-garde on the pieces, or would he stay somewhat within Duke’s musical language? The answer to both questions is yes as Shipp treats some of the songs to free wheeling de-construction and radical re-make, while others sound fairly close to the original. It’s this varied approach that makes “To Duke” a total success as both a tribute to Duke, as well as an expansion of his music.

The first thing that might hit you about this CD is the song choices. Common knowledge would expect Shipp to pick out interesting obscurities and some of Duke’s more harmonically complex pieces, but instead, Shipp picked the most common and over played songs in the Duke songbook. “Satin Doll”, “Take the A Train”, “Mood Indigo” etc, it reads like one more budget label “The Best of the Duke’s Greatest Hits” type albums. Is this Matthew’s sense of humor at work? Maybe, but possibly they just happen to be his favorites songs to play, or possibly those song’s familiarity made them a bigger challenge to re-interpret. If that is the case, then Shipp and his band-mates meet the challenge with unpredictable approaches and unbridled creativity.

The most radical re-makes take place on “Satin Doll” and “A Train”, as the band takes some of the basic riffs to launch furious assaults that can be very intense at times, and funny as hell other times. Shipp is one of the few performers in today’s jazz world who realizes that much of the great jazz in the past always had a sly wit. Elsewhere on this CD, “Mood Indigo” and “Prelude to a Kiss” stay close to the originals as Shipp expands on their lush harmonies. There are also a couple Shipp originals, with “Sparks” being an excellent high energy avant-bop number.

The person who might have appreciated these pieces the most is, of course, no longer with us. Duke did not care to have his music become museum pieces. His band rarely played songs the same way twice, and re-recordings of songs always featured new arrangements. He also did not like any attempt to write down a definitive arrangement of any of his pieces. Duke preferred that his music continue to grow and change, much like it does on "To Duke".

js The most difficult artists to write about are those whose artistic vision is so unique and personal that it is hard to come up with comparisons and references, and such is the case with pianist Matthew Shipp and his latest trio outing, “Root of Things”. Early in his career Shipp displayed much influence from the high speed jagged and aggressive piano assaults of Cecil Taylor, and you can still hear some of the Taylor influence, but Shipp has distilled and reduced the Taylor approach, taking out much of the extravagance and leaving a more refined core. Is Shipp’s playing a ‘lounge’ version of Cecil Taylor’s pyrotechnics, that would be an odd way of putting things, but it could almost suffice as a layman’s description, but its also a bit shallow because Shipp is much more than just that. If Matthew has a possible reference in today’s world of pianists, Craig Taborn might be as good as any. Both Shipp and Taborn are drawn to thick busy contrapuntal textures that owe much to serial composers, and both favor a tonality that deceptively slips from extended harmonies to atonality and in-between areas that are not clearly one or the other. Apologies are due if this all sounds too technical, but Shipp’s music is not exactly easy listening.

On this CD you get two tracks with busy, but introspective piano work; “Root of Things” and “Code J”, while “Path” centers around bassist Michael Bisio, and “Pulse Code” is for drummer Whit Dickey. The more energetic work-out tracks are “Jazz It” and album closer “Solid Circuit”. “Jazz It” is probably the CD’s top cut. As the title implies, this is the ‘jazz number’ and the only cut that ‘swings’. It opens with a bluesy Monk like groove, but as Shipp goes into quadruple time while soloing, the rhythm section feels compelled to follow and keeps slipping into chaotic high speed romps. Overall, “Jazz It” has more humor and good times slap bang chaos than most of the rest of this CD, which often sounds more like concert hall music than post bop. Dickey’s solo on “Pulse Code” is nice because he goes more for interesting layered poly-rhythms ala Billy Higgins, rather than boring displays of flash. Closing number “Solid Circuit” is probably closest to the old days of free jazz blowouts, but even on this one, the trio shows much care and restraint in their interactions.

This is one of the better jazz CDs to come out so far this year and it should hold up well to many close listens for modern post bop fans, avant-garde listeners and even concert hall devotees who like the jazz as well. If every cut on here would have been as strong and imaginitive as “Jazz It”, this would have been close to album of the year.