Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Matthew Shipp: Zero
Matthew Shipp: Zero
ByZero comes only months after Shipp's live solo Invisible Touch At Taktlos Zurich (Hatology, 2017). The title track is not the "Zero" that appeared on Shipp's One (Thirsty Ear Recordings, 2005), also a solo release. In this particular piece, as in the closing counterpart "After Zero," Shipp lays out a microcosm of the program. These compositions are, at various times, lyrical, edgy or just beyond explanation. There are pieces more overtly lyrical, sometimes with classical overtones such as "Abyss Before Zero," "Cosmic Sea" and "Zero Subtract From Jazz." The disjointed melodies and abstractions of "Pole After Zero," "Piano Panels" and "Ghost Pattern" are somewhat traditionally organized but still absorbing and mysterious. More enigmatic are the wide open excursions on "Zero Skip and a Jump" and "Pattern Emerge." "Blue Equation," true to its title, has the blues bouncing off Shipp's geometric angles.
By the time Shipp had released his first solo album Symbol Systems (No More, 1995) comparisons to the familiar cadre of avant-garde and free jazz pianists should have been considered irrelevant. Shipp's approach and style of playing have long been uniquely his and easily identifiable, in large part because of the intangible way he thinks about music, and the way he doesn't. Zero gives us the expressive assurance that Shipp's approachas solidly based in acumen as in musical virtuositycontinues to demand thoughtful listening. No concept necessary.
The CD format of Zero includes a spoken-word bonus disc, "Zero: A Lecture on Nothingness."
Track Listing
Zero; Abyss Before Zero; Pole After Zero; Piano Panels; Cosmic Sea; Zero Skip and a Jump; Zero Subtract From Jazz; Blue Equation; Pattern Emerge; Ghost Pattern; After Zero.
Personnel
Matthew Shipp
pianoMatthew Shipp: piano.
Album information
Title: Zero | Year Released: 2018 | Record Label: ESP Disk