feature photo: Anna Yatskevich
The ever-productive Matthew Shipp performs and records with a wide range of like-minded improvisational artists so frequently that even his biggest fans can miss out on a new release with his name on it if they blink. Since the pianist has last led his bread-and-butter trio format on a recording date with Piano Song two years ago, there were ten new albums he has led or co-led in the interim. That’s by my own count, there could be more.
One thing for certain, though: the Matthew Shipp Trio is back. Signature marks the return to the studio of Shipp with bassist Michael Bisio and drummer Newman Taylor-Baker…his first such date for the fabled ESP-Disk moniker. New label, yes, but business as usual for the Trio; they knock out ten fresh compositions on the first take each time, resulting in a final product with the immediacy that is the common denominator in all of Shipp’s dozens of recordings under his name.
It’s his name on the group but Shipp invests so much trust into Bisio and Taylor-Baker and it’s richly rewarded every time. That also helps to insure that this very conventional ensemble format for jazz is taken far beyond convention.
“Signature” is archetypical Matthew Shipp; he sets off in a certain direction but the destination isn’t determined until he reaches it. Going down a pensive path, the other guys soon pick up on his vibe and fully absorb it: Bisio playing his bass almost like Shipp plays his piano and Taylor-Baker’s brushes project a precise intonation carefully matching them both. This is solid unit performing.
As with the opening track, Shipp puts forth his initial thoughts on “Flying Saucer” alone while the rhythm section sizes it up before they lurch into action. This time, the three go for a thicker density and a faster tempo. The same telepathy is there but even more prodigious because there’s just no time to react, only anticipate. “The Way” also commences with Shipp alone setting the table with wandering chords, with Bisio and Taylor-Baker nudging their way in to fill out the spaces in the shapes suggested by the piano and once they have disembarked, they add more complexity. But instead of piling on slabs of sounds, the three probe for new twists in the conventional trio format, such as the moment when Shipp settles on a note at the extreme left side of his keys and Taylor-Baker responds by manipulating his toms around that low tone. When Shipp pivots to a scattershot of notes, Bisio jumps into action to lay a rocky foundation underneath.
The straight-ahead swing of “Stage Ten” from the rhythm section almost seems out of place on this record, but Shipp is doing everything but playing it straight, including the unique way he hits the piano strings. There’s an interesting theme that frequently and unexpectedly pokes out from the simmering rumble of “Zo #2.” “This Matrix” charges out the gate with all three, but really takes form after a couple of minutes. With the mission now defined, Shipp’s fleet-fingered delivery sketching out several ideas per minute in a creative mind dump. Speaking of fleet-fingered, Bisio’s bass aside is an impossibly nimble blizzard of notes that stays on its feet.
Matthew Shipp’s return to his trio is another welcome occasion of him using a common setup to make music that’s uncommonly advanced and stimulating. Signature will drop on February 15 2019, offered by ESP-Disk.
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