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Matthew Shipp Trio: Piano Song
ByShipp's current working group features esteemed veterans Michael Bisio and Newman Taylor Baker. Bisio has been Shipp's regular bassist since Art of the Improviser (Thirsty Ear, 2011), and has repeatedly demonstrated an intuitive affinity for the leader's oblique methodology. Baker replaced longstanding drummer Whit Dickey on the trio's previous effort, and has proven to be perfectly attuned to the synergistic rapport shared by Bisio and Shipp.
The most approachable offering in Shipp's vast discography thus far, Piano Song regales with memorable melodies and infectious rhythms. The brief unaccompanied piano soliloquy "Links" opens the album with pensive romantic flourishes, easing into the date's conceptual centerpiece, "Cosmopolitan," a jaunty swinger whose boppish momentum interpolates the familiar bass line of Miles Davis' "So What." Despite its harmonious nature, the deceptively intricate tune offers a salient demonstration of Shipp and company's abilities to deconstruct forms in suspended timeaccessible, but also adventurous.
Somewhat more restrained than earlier efforts, a number of pieces deal with texture in a minimalist manner. The cinematic tone poem "Blue Desert" for example, traffics in exotic tonalities, driven by delicate shaker rhythms, spectral bass harmonics and spare piano chords. Similarly understated, the mid-tempo ballad "Silence Of," and the vibrant solo piano meditation "The Nature Of" share more than a syntactic naming convention, unfolding as open-ended compositions in a state of flux. Embodying the unit's visceral tendencies, thrashing numbers like "Microwave" and "Gravity Point" are brisk, angular explorations, while the title track finds Shipp at his most lyrical, eschewing bombast for tenderness, closing the varied session as it began, with a contemplative flair.
Imaginatively incorporating conventional melodies, harmonies and rhythms into their dynamically fluid interplay, Shipp and his sidemen offer a unique take on the venerable piano trio tradition. Avoiding the stereotypical formal limitations of both the mainstream and avant-garde, Piano Song stands tall as one of the finest moments in Shipp's vast oeuvre.
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
pianoMatthew 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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