Whit Dickey Quartet - Root Perspectives

October 25, 2022

Label: TAO Forms, 2022

Personnel - Tony Malaby: tenor and soprano saxophone; Matthew Shipp: piano; Brandon Lopez: bass; Whit Dickey: drums.

This sturdy four-track album by drummer Whit Dickey finds him in the command of one of the most powerful improvisatory lineups coming from the New York free jazz panorama. Working with longtime and recent associates - pianist Matthew Shipp and bassist Brandon Lopez, respectively - Dickey also brings the towering saxophone playing of Tony Malaby into his game, finding mystery at the microcosmic level, even during highly charged moments.

“Supernova” illustrates huge solar masses of material, sweeping gravitational waves and sub-luminous sonic forces that, well represented by Malaby’s dark tones, make us picture a huge astronomical event with a threatening aspect. The heavy atmosphere is underscored by Shipp’s enigmatic voicings and propulsive activities, having bass and drums firmly connected at the back yet open to any change of direction. The saxophonist reaches a point of multiphonic exaltation before Shipp’s entangling mosaics are designed over multiple octaves of the keyboard. Intricately woven, these alternate routes are explored with furious excitement.

“Doomsday Equation” sets abstract sax lines against a classical-inspired pianism whose melodies feel palpable. The contrast creates a strong effect, and even if the kinetics simmer down for a while, it never feels static. Over the course of its 16 minutes, “Swamp Petals” changes from puissant to eerie to dramatic, with Shipp dashing from creative chords to wild outbursts over the drummer’s pertinent commentary and Lopez’s scarce arco bass. The power of Malaby’s anguished clamors is huge too.

The closing track, “Starship Lotus”, is the closest to a straight-ahead ride you’ll get. And that's regardless of the casual, abstract-leaned conversational facet that occurs over Dickey’s apparently off-centered pulse. Lopez advances to a well-oiled improvisation, while winding folk suggestions are made by Malaby, who encourages Shipp’s harmonic conduction to rocket up at some point. This is the most stirring outing by Dickey in a few years.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Supernova ► 03 - Swamp Petals

Whit Dickey / William Parker / Matthew Shipp - Village Mothership

November 23, 2021

Label: Tao Forms Records, 2021

Personnel - Whit Dickey: drums; William Parker: bass; Matthew Shipp: piano.

In a tribute to New York City’s Lower East Side and 30 years of musical collaboration and friendship, the trio co-led by drummer Whit Dickey, bassist William Parker and pianist Matthew Shipp puts out Village Mothership, a collection of six improvised pieces that explores many shapes and forms, both abstract and tangible.

The album begins with “A Thing & Nothing”, whose initial reflective mood soon develops and expands. The piano goes from fluidly atmospheric to sparse (with incisive low notes) to pressurized mechanical motions. The bass lines feel like delicate, abstract brushstrokes that trail a path on a colored canvas but are not averse to casual vigorous plucks. The drum playing can shift from understated polishment to a bright swinging pulse. These indefatigable artists work on these fluxes and dynamics with a rapport enhanced by their broad history in the avant-garde and free jazz movements.

“Whirling in the Void” is cosmic jazz that starts almost with no gravity. We are gradually pushed into the earth through a mix of jazz radiance, contemporary classical mesmerism, folksy melodies and a concluding avant-rock pulsation.

“Nothingness” arrives with a sheer melodicism that condone with silences and occasional brisk attacks. It gets playful at times, then serious again, and then reflective before reversing this order. The trio is fond of experimentation in a freewheeling fashion but sometimes we are mislead to think the opposite, such is the cohesiveness and ease they play with each other’s ideas and sounds.

One of my favorite pieces is the title cut, “Village Mothership”, which, introduced by Dickey, soon acquires a bare bass pavement that helps to sustain exhilarating piano rides and chordal explosions. Shortly after Parker's bass walks begin on top of an insistent hi-hat route, it all becomes lushly jazzy and swinging with the return of Shipp. The piece fades with active bass and quiet drums.

The cinematic tension of “Down Void Way” toggles between eerie and dramatic, with Parker employing his bowing attributes, giving the piece its best possible mood.

Shipp, Parker and Dickey are constantly searching. They possess a range of resources in their playing that many musicians would like to have. This also applies to their unblemished teamwork.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - A Thing & Nothing ► 04 - Village Mothership ► 05 - Down Void Way

Whit Dickey Trio - Expanding Light

June 11, 2020

Label: Tao Forms, 2020

Personnel - Rob Brown: alto sax; Brandon Lopez: bass; Whit Dickey: drums.

Expanding Light is a compelling trio session where the ideas emerge and unfold with vehement passion. Drummer Whit Dickey, a longtime adherent of the creative downtown free jazz movement of NY, teams up here with saxophonist Rob Brown, a close collaborator for more than 30 years, and, for the first time, with the 32-year-old rising star bassist Brandon Lopez.

“The Outer Edge” kicks off the album with the bandleader flaunting an expedite work with the kick drum and creating giddy excitement through persistent and controlled cymbal textures. Brown’s imaginative zigzags are thrown in a minute, expressing melodic and rhythmic insight. The bass enters at a later time, affixing a regular pace that accelerates into an unpretentious, snappy swing. Before the final section arrives with a Dolphy-esque pose and coarse hi-hat attacks, Dickey embraces his percussive speech with elan.

An active dialogue between pizzicato bass and brushed drums occurs on “Desert Flower”. Lopez’s apparently aimless moves end up in a sturdy ritualized groove, which, with Dickey’s assistance, creates a solid base of support for Brown’s thoughtful developments.

A fluid arco bass legato permeates “Plateau” with a meditative quality but also tension. The pressure is heightened by the boldness of the percussion treatment and intricate saxophone practices that accommodates a number of spiritual moments worthy of Coltrane.

The title cut, an off-the-cuff excursion with potent layers of energy, has intertwined trajectories established by bass and drums as its most attractive feature. Accordingly, beautifully designed textures become the natural outcome of the formidable combination between loose-limbed bass articulations and crisp percussive routines.

By comparison, it’s Brown's saxophone that is designated as the nerve center of the fervently prayerful “The Opening”. The saxophonist blows with volcanic strength and invincible perseverance while the rhythm section guarantees compact rhythmic fluxes by encapsulation of droning bowed bass and some stirring drumming.

Free jazz is in very good hands with this excellent trio.

Favorite Tracks:
02 - Desert Flower ► 04 - Expanded Light ► 06 - The Opening

Dickey, Maneri, Shipp - Vessel in Orbit

June 14, 2017

Label/Year: AUM Fidelity, 2017

Lineup – Whit Dickey: drums; Mat Maneri: viola; Matthew Shipp: piano.

Vessel in Orbit is a musical narrative of a fictional spatial voyage piloted by a trio of talented musicians and longtime associates. I'm talking about the quick-tempered drummer Whit Dickey, conceptualist violist Mat Maneri, and groundbreaking pianist Matthew Shipp.

Together, and furnished with the appropriate palettes, they illustrate this cosmic adventure that starts with the characterization of their “Spaceship 9”. There’s an imminent sense of danger brought by an insistent chord, an unambiguous rhythmic provocation by Shipp, who inspires Maneri for a few virtuosic and full-blooded runs that initially sound like a horn. The percussive currents emitted by Dickey sometimes gain the form of an imperial march. Despite some textural iteration and occasional mitigation in the intensity, the tune vibrates with movement.

The crew stops the engines for a “Space Walk”, which is done at an irregular pace as a result of freedom. They describe the dark and bright sides of the mysterious planet they’re stationed.

Forcing them into a huge vortex of tension, “Dark Matter” brings a jittery effervescence that will lead them to “Galaxy 9”, a quiescent cogitation, later turned into vehement imploration conducted by Maneri’s dramatic phrasing.

While passing a risky zone of “Turbulence”, they experience oscillating moves regulated by Dickey’s technique and loaded with contrapuntal dissertations from his peers, whose paths occasionally cross.

The impact was so strong that a fourth member of the crew didn’t resist and succumbed. That's the reason why lugubrious tones embrace “To a Lost Comrade”, conveying despair and consternation. Here, it's Dickey who tries to pull his mates out of the lethargy.

“Space Strut” shows us Shipp bolstering and propelling the spaceship with left and right-hand attacks, forming beautiful atmospheric textures of wide tonal range.
Already in another dimension, “Hyperspatial” comprehends contemplative reflections and euphoric exaltations punctuated by stratospheric noisy blasts.

If you want to step out of this world for a while, grab this record, which was passionately devised by an experienced trio of galaxy explorers, and let the portions of madness and lucidity invade your own space.

Favorite Tracks:
01 – Spaceship 9 ► 04 – Galaxy 9 ► 07 – Space Strut