The Ivo Perelman/Matthew Shipp train keeps rolling. This entity of two instruments, one mind continues a collaboration of making music by impulse that pushes the nearly limitless abilities of masters to the limit. Amalgam is the latest chapter in what is turning into the definitive book to one-on-one jazz improvisation, a book with no end in sight.
That’s because with new each chapter written comes a clearer focus into each other’s musical being, and the music that comes from that clearer focus engenders a deeper level of anticipation. On Amalgam, the anticipation is so good, these twelve totally improvisational performances are not only full of ardor but carry it out in a very efficient manner.
The subtle but striking thing about this perfectly titled album is that no piece has a moment of indecision because the two don’t need to spend any time figuring out their next move. It’s understood and processed, instantly. You hear it in the jousting they do in “Part 4,” like two evenly matched world class fencers who know where the other is going to lunge toward next. Or the economy in Matthew Shipp’s piano during “Part 3” and “Part 8,” enabling Ivo Perelman’s saxophone to exploit the extra space to emote using both the notes and the spaces between them.
The telepathy runs so deep at this point, they can harmonize in illusory ways: Perelman plays with Lester Young tenderness on “Part 1” and though it first it might appear they two are playing two different melodies, they in fact are playing very much together when you listen closely to it. “Part 9” is a near-synchronized ramble of notes which comes charging out the gate, constantly varying itself in two dimensions by speeding up and slowing down as it goes up and down scales. Dynamic pacing also sets the direction of “Part 6,” where it appears Perelman is leading the charge at first and Shipp doing the leading by the end.
One thing that hasn’t changed at all is Perelman’s endless array of tactics, which ensures that each performance is distinct. His sax explorations goes virtually the entire range of the instrument on “Part 8,” ending it with such a human-like mournful wail. He clips his notes short on “Part 2,” going for a percussive angle that Matthew Shipp easily and completely adapts to Ivo Perelman’s pointed attacks set the overall aggressive tone for “Part 7.”
Amalgam is now available from Mahakala Music and can be had via Bandcamp.
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