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| Sayyid (only Beans and Priest appear on this recording) eschew gansta rap, instead displaying a verbal pyrotechnic style that is a combination of storytelling and poetry.In addition, the range of musical influences displayed are much greater than that of the average popular rap group.The idea that the organic musical sounds being produced by a group of musicians can be fused effectively with electronic and programmed sounds is one that many jazz musicians are exploring, with Shipp at the forefront.Even though the musical language of technology has changed a lot in the intervening twenty or so years, the idea is the same, and it seems to be gaining acceptance on all sides.My only complaint is that it fades out just as the energy seems ready to explode.The idea that once can combine jazz and rap by simply throwing some rhymes over a jazz rhythm section is finally dealt a swift coup de gras by this album.If rappers and turntablists want to play with jazz musicians and be taken seriously by other musical genres, they must approach their music with the same craftsman like approach, developing over time and absorbing new influences.Their approach to rapping is based not just on what the MC says but on how he sounds and how the sounds that he creates with words fit into the overall sound of the music that is being created.Antipop are given equal footing in this aesthetic.The album is presented as Antipop vs.Matthew Shipp because neither aesthetic is giving any ground here.Instead, both are doing what they essentially do, but with sensitivity to the overall sound being created.With neither side ceding territory to the other, it is still apparent that these musical forms can interact in meaningful ways.Thirsty Ear Blue series.Matthew Shipp (born December 7, 1960) is an American free jazz pianist.Moore, are going beyond Taylor.Shipp was raised in Wilmington, Delaware, and began playing piano at six years old.Shipp attended the University of Delaware for one year, then the New England Conservatory of Music.He has cited private lessons with Dennis Sandole (who also taught John Coltrane) as being crucial to his development.Roscoe Mitchell
The Flow of X (2.By the Law of Music (hatOLOGY, 1996)
Thesis (hatOLOGY, 1997) with Joe Morris
The Multiplication Table (hatOLOGY, 1997)
Strata (hatOLOGY, 1997)
Gravitational Systems (hatOLOGY, 1998) with Mat Maneri
DNA (Thirsty Ear, 1999)
Magnetism (Bleu Regard, 1999)
Expansion, Power, Release (hatOLOGY, 1999)
Pastoral Composure (Thirsty Ear Blue Series, 2000)
New Orbit (Thirsty Ear Blue Series, 2000)
Nu Bop (Thirsty Ear Blue Series, 2002)
Equilibrium (Thirsty Ear Blue Series, 2002)
Antipop vs.External links
Official site
Interview
Thirsty Ear Record Label
NewMusicBox cover: Matthew Shipp in conversation with Frank J.You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.This page was last modified 03:40, 30 October 2007."Well now, you see, the thing about Matthew Shipp is....."Roy Campbell, William
Parker, Gerald Cleaver) ..Thesis : Duo with Joe Morris ..Wisdom of Uncertainty AUM Fidelity 1997
Godspelized..Third Ear Recitation DIW 1993
Flight of I..Born April 27, 1998
UPDATE March 11, 2004
If anyone would like to adopt this project, please contact me.Selling My MUSIC COLLECTION!No More Records) for bookings, tour info, recordings, etc.Tour and concert info at AUM Fidelity.Extensive Matthew Shipp Interview by Dave Reitzes.Info (including Shipp's "Boxing and Jazz"; an interview from NOW Magazine; a feature from the Boston Phoenix) at AUM Fidelity website.Matthew Shipp interview by Pete Gershon.Adam Shatz's feature article on Matthew Shipp:
POP MUSIC; A Jazz Pianist Stands Tall in the Rock Underground, from the January 25, 1998 Sunday Arts and Leisure section of the New York Times.Chris Rice's Halana Magazine.Current details search list.Info I require to complete this document.Matthew Shipp Interview by Pete Gershon, October 2, 1997.Third Ear Recitation liner notes by Ben Ratliff.Thanks to those who've helped.Rob Brown: Sonic Explorations
88.Matthew Shipp Quartet: Points
90.Matthew Shipp: Prism
93.Ware Quartet: Cryptology
95.Matthew Shipp: The Flow of X
95.Matthew Shipp: Before the World
95.Ware Quartet: Oblations and Blessings
95.Matthew Shipp: Symbol Systems
96.Matthew Shipp: Brazilian Watercolor
96.Joe Morris Ensemble: Elsewhere
96.Ware Quartet: Godspelized
96.Ivo Perelman: Cama de Terra
96.Knitting Factory What Is Jazz?Matthew Shipp String Trio: By the Law of Music
96.Rob Brown Duo with Matthew Shipp: Blink of an Eye
96.VIII
Art Ensemble Of Chicago: Selected Recordings , Rarum VI
97.Matthew Shipp: The Multiplication Table
97.Matthew Shipp Horn Quartet: Strata
98.Matthew Shipp Duo with Mat Maneri: Gravitational Systems
98.Village Voice Records
99.Matthew Shipp, Rob Brown, William Parker : Magnetism
99.Circeto Film Productions
99.Thirsty Ear Recordings
00.Antipop Consortium: Antipop Consortium vs.Antipop Consortium: Antipop Consortium vs.Thirsty Ear Recordings
03.November 19, 1987
Evergreen Studio ("Possibly."The tracks actually appear separately (and naturally) as track 5 and 6, and the mistaken listing throws the remaining tracks from the 2nd session into complete disarray.Go to the
Silkheart webpage for these CDs.Matthew Shipp (p)
Rob Brown (as)
William Parker (b)
Whit Dickey (d)
Go to the
Silkheart webpage for this CD.Matthew Shipp Trio: Circular Temple
Quinton Records QTN1 (CD) 1992; 2.Quadratic Equation
Part I: Fate vs.There Will Never Be Another You (H.Matthew Shipp (piano)
Williamm Parker ?Ware (ts)
Matthew Shipp (p)
William Parker (b)
Whit Dickey (d)
Third Ear Recitation liner notes by Ben Ratliff.Matthew Shipp Quartet: Critical Mass
2.All compositions, David S.Matthew Shipp: The Flow of X
2.Gold Sparkle Band, covering the Shipp compositions Flow of X and Flow of Y.Ware (ts)
Matthew Shipp (p)
William Parker (b)
Whit Dickey (d)
Go to the
Silkheart webpage for this CD.All compositions, David S.Matthew Shipp: Symbol Systems
No More Records No.Various Artists: Knitting Factory What Is Jazz?Various Artists: Knitting Factory What Is Jazz?"Jingle" that appears twice.Rob Brown Duo with Matthew Shipp: Blink of an Eye
No More Records No.All compositions, David S.Wisdom of Uncertainty at the AUMFidelity website.MOTION review of this disc.RL
Vision Festival 1997 Compiled at the AUMFidelity website.Vision Festival 1997 Compiled at the AUMFidelity website.There was one natural break in the concert, very brief and midway through, located here between IDs 5 and 6."Steven Joerg, from the liners.Mat Maneri Trio: So What?Matthew Shipp Duo with William Parker: DNA
Thirsty Ear Recordings thi 57067.Ware, Matthew Shipp, William Parker, Guillermo E.Moore, Thurston Moore, Joseph de Paul, Jim Anderson, Michael Brecker and appearances by Anne Dumas and Branford Marsalis.Rehearsals, interviews, and footage of New York City take up the first 24:00; The remainder is studio recording time from the Surrendered sessions, and tour and concert footage from London, Strasbourg, Bruxelles, and Poitiers.Ware (ts)
Matthew Shipp (p)
William Parker (b)
Guillermo E.Ware (ts)
Matthew Shipp (p)
William Parker (b)
Guillermo E.Muzzik Presents Jazz: David S.Ware (ts)
Matthew Shipp (p)
William Parker (b)
Guillermo E.Various Artists: State of the Union
Electronic Music Foundation EMF CD 028 (3CD) 2001
Date ?He showed up, played, and was out the door in under 5 minutes."QPSM Unit: The Seriousness of the Matter
Quadrophonic Sound Module QPS 1101 (LP) 2001
Date ?One of many typos in the liners.Masses
Thirsty Ear Recordings (The Blue Series) THI 570103.William Parker (bass)
Guillermo E.Ware (ts)
Matthew Shipp (synth)
William Parker (b)
Guillermo E.Parallels at the AUMFidelity website.Various Artists: Blue Series Essentials
Thirsty Ear Recordings (Borders Bookstores Promo Sampler) THI 57124.DJ Wally: Nothing Stays the Same
Thirsty Ear Recordings (The Blue Series) THI 57140.Matthew Shipp (piano)
Daniel Carter (saxophone and flute)
William Parker (bass)
FLAM (synths and programming)
Guillermo E.Matthew Shipp: SONGS
Splasc(H) Records (World Series) CDH 840.AMaSSED
Thirsty Ear Recordings (The Blue Series) THI 57123.This compilation also contains performances by William Parker; Guillermo E.Antipop Consortium: Antipop Consortium vs.Matthew Shipp
Thirsty Ear Recordings (The Blue Series) THI 57120.Various Artists: Blue Series Essentials
Thirsty Ear Recordings (Borders Bookstores Promo Sampler) THI 57124.This compilation also contains performances by William Parker; Guillermo E.Thirsty Ear Recordings THI 57138.This compilation also contains performances by Matthew Shipp; Tim Berne; DJ Wally; Blue Series Continuum; David S.Antipop Connsortium: Beans and Priest (vocals, synth, programming)
Matthew Shipp (piano)
William Parker (bass)
Khan Jamal (vibes)
Daniel Carter (trumpet)
Guillermo E.DJ Spooky that Subliminal Kid: Optometry
Thirsty Ear Recordings (The Blue Series Continuum) THI 57121.Various Artists: Blue Series Essentials
Thirsty Ear Recordings (Borders Bookstores Promo Sampler) THI 57124.This compilation also contains performances by William Parker; Guillermo E.DJ Wally: Nothing Stays the Same
Thirsty Ear Recordings (The Blue Series) THI 57140.Matthew Shipp (piano)
Joe McPhee (tenor sax, trumpet)
Daniel Carter (saxophone and flute)
William Parker (bass)
Guillermo E.Matthew Shipp: Equilibrium
Thirsty Ear Recordings (The Blue Series) THI 57127.Ware (tenor sax)
Matthew Shipp (piano)
William Parker (bass)
Guillermo E.Thirsty Ear Recordings (The Blue Series) THI 57120.Antipop Connsortium: Beans and Priest (vocals, synth, programming)
Matthew Shipp (piano)
William Parker (bass)
Khan Jamal (vibes)
Daniel Carter (trumpet)
Guillermo E.Thirsty Ear Recordings (The Blue Series) THI 57120.Thirsty Ear Recordings THI 57138.Antipop Connsortium: Beans and Priest (vocals, synth, programming)
Matthew Shipp (piano)
William Parker (bass)
Khan Jamal (vibes)
Daniel Carter (trumpet)
Guillermo E.Matthew Shipp: The Sorcerer Sessions
Thirsty Ear Recordings (The Blue Series) THI 57141.Ware (tenor sax)
Matthew Shipp (Korg Triton Pro X: string pads and various piano settings)
Mat Maneri (viola)
Daniel Bernard Roumain (violin)
William Parker (bass)
Guillermo E.Matthew Shipp (piano)
William Parker (bass)
Guillermo E.P, featuring the The Blue Series Continuum: High Water
Thirsty Ear Recordings (The Blue Series) THI 57143.Arrangements, Compositions, Mix)
Daniel Carter (flute, reeds)
Roy Campbell (trumpet)
Matthew Shipp (piano)
Steve Swell (trombone)
William Parker (bass)
Guillermo E.Susan Littenberg 42 Sterling Place Brooklyn, NY 11217.Matthew Shipp
Igor Danilishen
John Chacona
Gerrit Stolte, European correspondent
R.George Scala
Guy Berard
Francesco Martinelli
Chris DeVito
James Lindbloom
Siegfried Otto
Anne Dumas
Holger Neuhaus
Bertrand Guggenheim
CODA Magazine.Blues: Creative Improvised Music."For subscription info and much more visit the Cadence website.Much of this info requires "inside" knowledge, so if you have pertinent contacts with label reps, session producers, musicians involved, recording engineers, etc.Review by David Lewis in CADENCE, Oct '98, p.GSB is one hell of a group.Well worth investigating and strongly recommended."Review by Robert Iannapollo in CADENCE, Dec '97, p.Matthew Shipp Interview by Pete Gershon, October 2, 1997
PG: Imagine my surprise when I walked into Barnes and Noble last week
and saw you on the cover of Jazziz.MS: Where was this, up in Connecticut, I mean, Vermont?Well, the editors and the writers from Jazziz, yeah, they
really feel like there's something exciting going on, especially in
New York and it deserves to be talked about.MS: Well, I think it's great that this school of music is beginning to
be taken seriously.Like a lot of people in the Vision Fest, a lot of
them have been on the scene for years and years.PG: As someone who plays music outside the mainstream, how have you
fared with the business side of things?MS: Well, I have kind of a business mind which a lot of people in
music don't have, so I try and make sure...PG: The grassroots style of touring you've undertaken is something that
seems to be happening more and more with jazz bands.Some jazz musicians
are just waiting around for a huge advance, and they don't wanna go out
on the road, and in America, that just doesn't come.You gotta get out there
and build an audience.MS: Well, the first tour was William and I together.Assif (Tsahar)
and Suzie (Ibarra) have gone out to some of them, so I do think we're
building up a little network.Knitting Factory bands are getting
out there, too, Thomas Chapin...Yeah, I think we're opening up some
kind of circuit.The only problem is that, although some gigs we did
were funded through arts orginizations or radio stations, and in those
cases there wasn't so much pressure to have a huge door, but there's a
certain fee that we really like to ask for, and sometimes it can be
difficult to get in certain situations.My father played the tuba in high school.They bought jazz
records that would have been popular in the 50s and 60s.My mother was good
friends with Clifford Brown.They had light classical stuff, too, and
stuff like Ray Charles.They never really searched stuff out, but it
was a diverse collection.He had a lot of
students.There was a big band, students would get together and jam in different
places.There were restaurants you could get gigs at.Fridays and Saturdays I led a quartet at another.There was an actual
scene of sorts.But
yeah, I've always liked the piano music of Schoenberg.Schoenberg's solo piano works at a department store when I was a kid because
I liked the cover.PG: Was there a moment where you said to yourself, "Yes, I want to
play music for a living."There were other factors, too.Yeah, when I graduated from high school, I did not
want to go to college.So I really didn't want to go to school.My father worked at the University of Delaware, so I
was able to go there for free.And since it was free, I realy didn't take
it very seriously.Philadelphia area for a couple of years.New York the following year when I felt I was ready.MS: Um, do you have "Points"?MS: Yeah, to me Sun Ra, well I don't even know where to begin talking
about him.His music is a universe in and of itself, and it's almost
impenetrable.He touched on so many things and so many ideas that I
almost think of him the way you'd think of a writer like Borges.There's corridors and labyrinths
everywhere in his music, I don't even know where to start.How many
people can you say are visionaries who also played with Fletcher
Henderson?He encompasses all of that.PG: Have you ever dabbled in electronic keyboards?MS: I used to own a Fender Rhodes when I was a cocktail pianist.Some
gigs there'd be an acoustic piano, but sometimes there wasn't.MS: I view my career as the proliferation of albums that I make.Obviously, some people are gonna remember seeing you
play live here, here and here, but most people's awareness of your
career is centered around your flow of albums.MS: I don't even want to do that many more albums as a sideman.Robert Hicks
At the center of any jazz improvisation is dialogue.In duo, that conversation between instruments, the interplay of colors and shadings, of timbre and harmonics, of rhythm and melodic statement, is brought into heightened focus.Pianist Matthew Shipp enjoys the challenge and intimacy of duo outings."It helps me to expand what I'm doing.Z, Mitchell has found a good companion for their multilayered voicings.Billy Bang one day and he gave me Roscoe's number.So I sent him some of my material and he called me up.That's when I started working with him in the Note Factory.Within his group, we would do things in duo a lot when we performed on tour.Shipp grew up in Wilmington, Delaware, starting piano at the age of five.His association with Rick Rubin and Henry Rollins has even garnered attention from a rock crowd, including critical raves in a lead review in Rolling Stone.And he's served notice in Europe too, touring with his own quartet as well as with the David S.Ware Quartet and Mitchell's Note Factory.While these musical styles don't surface in his own music directly, Mitchell's exposure to so many different types of music bore an openness to sound and an independence to venture on to his own musical terrain.Z, from its serene passages to its pointillistic images.An impressionistic wave of sounds can open up myriad associations for both Shipp and Mitchell.There are multiple layers of space and time all tied together with a shared spirituality.Ware lay on his bed in the Canal Street apartment he was sharing with a few other musicians, and briefly heard the music of the spheres."It was just like somebody turned on the radio.But it wasn't coming from anywhere; it was coming from within me.Just enough to let me know that it was there.""Another way to put it," he explained to me, "is that there is a universal reservoir of music; it's music that exists, somewhere in the deep regions of the universe, and I don't mean out there, I mean in here, within.It's my understanding that all music comes from that place."All that's really meant by the "third ear" is a subtle, more refined sense of hearing."The refinement of all five senses is an integral part of the spiritual path, and I'm only singling out the sense of hearing," he says."This has to be seen in the overall context of spiritual development.It unfolded over a period of perhaps fifty rehearsals, gaining delicacy, momentum, and density.Density, in particular, is Ware's natural inclination: his tone is among the broadest of tenor saxophonists working today, his lines contain a great amount of notes, and he prefers a deeply enmeshed ensemble sound as well.There's no space in between the notes; it's like they melt into one another.This music sounds like a felicitous meeting of lifelong preparation and flashed spontaneity.Two takes of "Autumn Leaves" are included here not because of subtle differences, but because of basic ones.In the first, Matthew Shipp comps the melody at a stately pace, staying absolutely true to the textbook; he does not solo.In the second version, Ware opens with a solo and the band enters on a completely different tack: this time Shipp solos right after Ware's unaccompanied intro; William Parker develops a plucked solo out of a long arco passage, and then returns to bowing; and Dickey's playing is much sparser.When most musicians want to play a Sonny Rollins "standard," they go for "St.Rollins nailed permanently, something which will never shake off Rollins' touch.Ware, who learned circular breathing from Rollins at the age of sixteen, and upon whom Rollins probably made more of an impression than any other tenor player, went to "East Broadway Run Down," a piece that's really just a short, wriggly motif.After the first time Ware rehearsed the composition which he was to title "Mystic March," he went home, listened back to the tape, and saw an image.They're maintaining their cadence, their march, through all that comes: wars, famines, droughts, going from one age to another, and they're maintaining their march, their flow.Whit, playing in an militaristic character as a metaphor for staying unaffected, isn't changed by Matthew's and William's stride; they're playing in a slightly different meter.I'm not following some part of the melody, then I'm not there."The four shorter pieces on the record were originally conceived as parts of three long suites Ware wrote for the record."Third Ear Recitation" is structured from two lines, played by Ware, Shipp and Parker in various positions to each other.To Ware, the lines "relate like male and female"; the piece is built upon the idea of parallel universes, "realities that both sustain each other and remain distinct.""Free Flow Dialogue" is another of Ware's jolted motif pieces, and it's a good game of catch: in it you can hear how Whit Dickey is able to pick up Ware's rhythms and incorporate them into whatever pattern he's developing, and vice versa.That won't happen if you develop a sense of compassion.You'll have that connectedness, that knowing that the same life that's in you is in every other being, so you're not going to mishandle life.""And I would have to go along with him.Because Beaver could play on what I call a horizontal plane, and he could also play free.But whenever Beaver did it, it seemed like he really loved it.Ware tends naturally to explain his music in metaphysical terms; another word for the "horizontal plane" is swing.David believes it was Beaver Harris who gave him some of his most important disciplinary directives as a musician.David started to become aware that the whole posture of the music changes, depending on what meter you're executing it in.To use that kind of logic is one of the cornerstones of modern saxophone playing."Like no music I've ever heard.But I'll tell you something, I'll tell you this.If you've ever checked out symphony orchestras when they tune up on television, well, to me, that is the most interesting part of the performance.That might give you an idea of it.When I'm listening to an orchestra, and they're tuning up?"Liner notes by Ben Ratliff
Transcribed by Justin James Kau.If this decade isn't looked back upon as the Roaring Nineties, it won't be Matthew Shipp's fault.The past decade has seen Shipp sculpt a body of work that includes his continuing and highly rewarding contributions to the David S.Ware Quartet, a stint with Roscoe Mitchell's Note Factory, and over thirty albums in an impressive variety of solo, duo, trio and quartet formats, with such collaborators as guitarist Joe Morris, saxophonists Roy Campbell and Rob Brown, trumpeter Roy Campbell, bassist William Parker, violinist Matt Maneri, and drummers Whit Dickey and Susie Ibarra.William Parker, DNA is full of introspective and abstract soundscapes with roots in Monk and Powell, and branches reaching out to American traditional music and spirituals, as in an impassioned version of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again" and the eloquent, straightforward reading of "Amazing Grace" that brings the album to a close.We had a chance to talk to Matt just as he was getting ready for the Ware Quartet's first performance with new drummer Guillermo Brown, opening for Sonic Youth at New York City's Roseland.Yeah, I'm doing this duo album with William on Thirsty Ear, then I'm going on a sabbatical from recording, the recording process.But I have a lot of albums out and it's time to take a rest.Is it just going to be when you feel like it?PSF: The line between your work as a leader and a sideman kind of blurs sometimes.My own things I'm definitely the leader.I've developed a role for myself in that group.I'm definitely organically a huge part of the whole concept of the quartet.So I think I kind of cross the line.You could choose to see it many ways.Yeah, I think I've a developed a role for my particular style in that group.We think of it as a piece.Therefore that group has grown over the years to be like an organic totality that all our personalities contribute to largely.PSF: He's only been with you, I'm guessing, about a month or so?Laughs) We've rehearsed the last two days.Well, I would say in that particular group, the sonic landscape, the concept of the rhythm section in that group is one that has been developed over a decade, and it's pretty solid.The actual landscape is generated from myself and William, so the drummer is an added appendage.Elvin Jones could come into the group and he would have to adjust to us.PSF: So you'd have to be a dynamo drummer just to stay afloat.PSF: You're someone whose music is not easy to describe.Critics seem to describe your music as being about challenge or about struggle.If you listen to Albert Ayler, you hear folk songs, you hear elements of traditional jazz on some of his earlier albums, you hear folk melodies, you hear spirituals.If you listen to Coltrane you'll hear Indian music, African music, along with his obvious underpinnings in jazz.Bud Powell or Jimi Hendrix, Anton Webern, Andrew Hill.So there's a lot of people I like and I've just soaked it all in.You must be sick of being compared to Cecil Taylor.But I understand that, because if you mention that idiom, you almost have to mention that.If they get that, then they say, you know, you're out of Cecil Taylor.PSF: I don't know why I feel I'm on more solid ground when I listen to Cecil.You know that old quote from Andre Previn, where he says, Stan Kenton makes a big motion, his band plays something, and every arranger in the house nods their head and says, "Yes, that's how it's done."But then Duke Ellington raises a finger, two horns play something, and Previn says, "I don't know what it is."Do you feel there's a big leap between your music and the music you play with him?PSF: Because I feel that way.No, they're two different worlds altogether.No, but I think a burly horn that is that capacious makes the musical landscape a certain thing.And even within the context of the quartet, when he stops playing and the trio is doing something, what you're doing as a trio has to index what he had done before.The way he writes is different.The way I accompany him is different.I'm a different generation.I'm trying to think of the exact term to say where I'm coming from, and it's not really .PSF: It's almost like doing psychotherapy on yourself to try to figure it out.I'm just saying that one group is organized along the lines of that type of classic jazz quartet and the other is organized along the lines of a portrait or a novel.PSF: Occasionally that question arises, if you haven't heard someone play the same piece a couple times.Set : false,
newBGColor : null,
fullUrl : document.Add a link to your "Matthew Shipp" fan site on VH1.Roscoe Mitchell to violinist Mat Maneri, who began appearing on recordings in the 1990s.He began playing piano at the young age of five, and decided to focus on jazz by the time he was 12.He then went on to lead his own trio with Parker and drummers Whit Dickey and Susie Ibarra.In 2000, Shipp began acting as curator for Thirsty Ear's Blue Series.This excellent series hosted a number of Shipp's own recordings, as well as the recordings of William Parker, Tim Berne, Roy Campbell, Craig Taborn, Spring Heel Jack, and Mat Maneri.In 2004 Shipp released Harmony and Abyss, a meditation on repetitive melodic and harmonic structures.One arrived in January 2006 and Piano Vortex followed a year later.Create a configuration object and add the keywords to the conf.Sun Shipp: An Interview with Jazz Pianist Matthew Shipp
By Brian L.Knight
Pianist Matthew Shipp is one of the hottest items in the New York City jazz scene in
these.With DNA, which is a duet with longtime colleague,
bassist William Parker, there is an incredible feeling of spirituality that arises from
the tandem free jazz explorations.Pastoral
Composure is the first installment of the Blues Series that is released produced by
Thirsty Ear.Anyway, the feeling of awe is definitely here.He used to live right around the corner.MS: All those words convey one aspect of it.In what I do there is a quest for the understanding of what it is to create a
universe.It is like the generation of a cosmos.VR: You related to how Coltrane had a spirituality and I can see how that relates to
being cosmic.Coltrane and Sun Ra might
be two people that exemplified different approaches to having spirituality in music.He created an other worldly type of
situation in jazz that was definitely a parallel world to what most people were thinking
what jazz was at time.What
kind of music did you start of listening to?VR: What do they think of you as a musician?This is not their type of music that I do but they saw the
progression.They saw that somehow it did all make a logical sense.MS: I mistrust that word sometimes.You do a CD and that is
your calling to the world.The methodology of 20th Century classical music and jazz
music is different but it requires discipline for both crafts.We spend a lot of time really developing a capacity and methodology to do it.William and I have been playing together for 16 years.When you play that long with
somebody, things take on a life of their own.It is same process whether you are doing it
with a piano or not.That is known at
the least.MS: I am curating this Blues Series on Thirsty Year.This the first quartet album with a
drummer that I have done in years.VR: So at least you still get to take somewhat of a hiatus and chill out.After that, the violinist Mat Maneri will have a quartet with
William Parker and Gerald Cleaver.Craig Taborn will be playing piano, the pianist from
James Carter band.Those are the four albums for this year.MS: Actually, not really.West based musicians and New York based musicians.New York school, so having to adjust my style to a different concept was a great
learning experience for me.VR: What is the difference between the two camps?MS: I would say that it is more of a pulse thing.What do you think of Black Flag?They share a similar energy.Of course, we want to all get accepted and make money.VR: What do you do when you are not playing music?MS: I am a big boxing fan.Producer, composer, sideman, and soloist Matthew Shipp arrived in New York City 20 years ago, and in the interim has become arguably the most important player on the downtown avant garde scene.Ware quartet, then as a leader most often with bassist William Parker at his side, Shipp recorded with Roscoe Mitchell, Rob Brown, Roy Campbell, Wadada Leo Smith, Other Dimensions in Music and with violinist Mat Maneri and Parker in the Matthew Shipp String Trio.All About Jazz: What does the Artistic Director of the Thirsty Ear Blue Series do?Conceive ways of promoting various projects.Matt, I'd like to do a record for Thirsty Ear.MS: Yeah, but Peter and I basically sit and put our heads together and come up with a whole series of ideas.AAJ: What convinces you to put something on record?CD is in my brain, and yet it takes form in the world and it's sold over the counter as product, and people go in their house and put it on and that just fascinates me.AAJ: What identifies you as a leader of a session?I'm dealing with two string instruments, so I can kind of give off the veneer or the buzz of a modern chamber group, but yet the essence of what we're exploring is very heavily jazz.MS: I don't know if it's who I'm listening to other than maybe an overall cultural thing.New York City, having the type of friends I have, it just seems to be in the air.AAJ: How do some of the other players in the Blue Series, like Mat Maneri and William Parker, influence your music, and how do you influence each other?Yet we're very, very different people.He's a generation before me, but for some reason we share this similar thing in this period of the music.Living in the 21st century, we both had a very religious background, a sense of how mysticism and religion translate into the language of free jazz, and there's a certain worldview with the avant garde that comes out of a certain type of mysticism.But both of them in different ways.William and I share in the understanding of that.But we also understand that living in the times that we do, we can't be Sun Ra or Coltrane.We have to be some fresh phenomena that's relevant to the world today.He and I have a real understanding, or a real feel
together, of how in an expanded harmonic way, and an expanded intervalic way, taking aspects from atonal music or early 20th century classical music and really expanding that into how that would organically work in a jazz vocabulary.Mat and I can breathe that way together.What is it in the air, as you say, that accounts for the recent movement of free jazz players to incorporate strings into their music?At one level, that's the attractiveness and the energy and the whole thrust of the music, that it can be an assault at times on people, even though there's a lot of beauty there.I've never talked with him, but I'm kind of really into turntablists these days.At the end of the day, what you're aiming for is to be able to go somewhere, sit down, do a concert, be yourself, and that's groovy.Visit Thirsty Ear on the web at www.Column Archive: Interviews
This article first appeared in All About Jazz: New York.Jeff listens to as much recorded music as he can.You may give each page an identifying name, server, and channel on
the next lines.Matthew Shipp (read more)
43,748 plays scrobbled on Last.Matthew Shipp (born December 7, 1960) is an American free jazz pianist.Shipp attended the University of Delaware for one year, then the New England Conservatory of Music.If you'd like to add some events for Matthew Shipp then you can do so on this page.We're conducting a survey and would like your input. |
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