Matthew Shipp: piano; Michael Bisio: bass; Newman Taylor Baker: drums.
JazzTrail had the privilege to listen to Matthew Shipp’s luminous new album, Piano Song, to be released on January 27, 2017. Recorded in trio with the bassist Michael Bisio and the drummer Newman Taylor Baker, this will be Matthew’s last record on the Thirsty Ear label. These groundbreaking musicians display a tremendous sound as they continue to embrace hypnotic textures within an idiosyncratic universe.
Shipp’s elegant solo piano captivates in the solemn “Links”, the opening tune, while “Cosmopolitan” brings Miles Davis’ “So What” to mind through Bisio’s evocative bass line and Shipp’s suggestive melodies. Both the bassist and the drummer had the opportunity to express themselves individually here, as well as in the piano-less “Scrambled Brain”.
Baker’s swell hip-hop beats stand out in the memorable “Flying Carpet”, which erupts gradually into an upheaval as Shipp increases tension through his vehement playing. A similar impetuosity is put on the kinetic “Gravity Point”, a loud, rhythmic extravaganza that may take your feet off the ground.
Functional minimalism is associated with titles such as “Blue Desert” and “Void on”, opposing to “Mind Space”, which invites us to another hallucinating trip into the abstract.
Even distinct in nature, the exclamatory “Micro Wave” and the wandering “The Nature of”, have motivational energies in common. The former, blossoming as an extravagant march filled with complex melodic replicas, while the latter boasts a piano soliloquy that fills our ears with great, unobvious melodies.
The album culminates with the title track, in which a solo piano gently pushes us into an imperturbable serenity.
Matthew Shipp Trio will open the New Year spreading magical moments of grandiose musicality.
Piano Song is an album to get lost in; a bottomless well of impactful creativity and divine inspiration that consolidates Shipp as a forward-thinker with a radiant, unique voice.
Favorite Tracks:
02 – Cosmopolitan ► 05 – Flying Carpet ► 07 – Micro Wave