The second of Matthew Shipp’s late-2019 RogueArt two-fer, What If? is a pairing of the pianist with his kindred soul on trumpet, Nate Wooley. Wooley and Shipp have appeared together on several of recent Ivo Perelman albums, which likely inspired the idea of getting together for some one-on-one for the first time.
Over the course of a dozen of Shipp compositions, Wooley and Shipp converse and plot how to tackle the next turn up ahead with the telepathy only the elite musicians can so fully rely upon. It’s not loud or shrill but deeply probes the outer limits of Shipp’s charts.
“What If?” uses Shipp’s strident sequence of chords as a foundation, which gives all the rhythm section needed for Wooley to roam, sometimes intertwining with the piano, sometimes reacting to that piano’s small changes in emphasis. Shipp sets the rhythmic and harmonic parameters within which Wooley works on other tunes as well, such as with “The Ball” and “Call In Space.”
“New Light” uses a delicate touch, the fragility in Wooley’s trumpet blazing a trail into a darkness but finds confidence in knowing that Shipp is right alongside for the journey.
Shipp’s twelve sketches of music distinguish themselves by temperament and tactics, and a few of them take on a feeling of repose. Wooley uses a plunger to wring out vulnerable moods for “Plug Vortex.” It leads unassumingly into “Points of Fraction,” which uses space effectively as a third instrument. Bouts of silence lends to an air of suspense throughout “Space Junk” until both rain down a barrage of notes.
“Ktu” and “Circular Juice From The Matrix” take a plunge into freedom and dissonance, and Wooley is reveling in it because he’s so at ease in highly improvisational settings. Wooley tests the tonal limits of his horn during “Cosmic Rumble,” turning his notes into decayed facsimiles. When Shipp’s piano turns from stormy to delicate, Wooley softens up as well.
Two original voices on piano and trumpet combine to for a third, unified original voice for What If?, where Matthew Shipp and Nate Wooley find a telepathic communion in an uncommon duet. We no longer need to wonder “what if” these two got together for a record, What If? provides a very satisfying answer.
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