In his relentless pursuit of new avenues of improvisations, saxophonist Ivo Perelman most often goes the duet or trio route. That doesn’t mean he isn’t open to bouncing off ideas in real time with three other musicians, but it’s an avenue less explored. However, he’s recently convened a quartet with a nearly unimaginable degree of collective talent and creative drive when he spun off instant compositions with pianist Matthew Shipp, bassist William Parker and drummer Bobby Kapp, and the 2026 release Synthesthesia (Defkaz Records) holds the results of that meeting.
Synthesthesia is actually the third recorded meeting of this special quartet, preceded by Heptagon (2018) and Ineffable Joy (2019). That Perelman would record with the same quartet three times when quartets are a fairly infrequent thing for him speaks to the affinity that he has for this combination.
Given the long-running historic duo of Perelman and Shipp, it’s tempting to view this quartet as ‘Perelman Shipp Plus,’ and on those terms alone, this is a vital ensemble. But when you listen close enough, you can detect Parker and Kapp stealthily adding meaningfully to ideas presented by the other two and even changing the direction of the progression.
The rhythm section will even initiate things at times. Kapp’s drums are the only voice heard for the initial minute of “First Color Heard,” but already there are tonal colors emanating from that through his deft manipulation of toms, snare and cymbals. When the other three join in, there’s a melodic shape materializing almost instantly from the Perelman-Shipp axis built from Kapp’s cues with Parker’s bass quickly finding the tonal center. For his part, Kapp’s instincts to know when keep time versus just flow with the rest are unfailing.
The dark tones and telepathic sax-piano interplay of “Phosphene” has the familiar dynamic if a Perelman-Shipp duet but with an impeccably sympathetic rhythm section backing them up. Without ever pressing it, Shipp invents melodies on the spot and Perelman fills it out. For “Blue Taste,” the foundational interaction occurs between Perelman and Parker, who is locked in to the instant melody that the saxophonist create, easily setting the table for Shipp to come in and find his place at it and pilot the changes.
Shipp plays a romantic figure to begin “Afterglow” and Perelman accordingly plays his tenor with the yearning of Lester Young, Kapp traces Shipps moves with his brushes and Parker removes the mystery of the harmony while keeping it centered.
“One Sense” charges right out the gate and Parker starting out with the bow briefly makes it three lead voices. The four sprint with reckless abandon but remain very in tune with each other. Shipp’s feature remains frisky but light on its feet. When Perelman returns to shred, Shipp performs an acrobatic feat of accompanying and co-leading at the same time, obliterating the line between both. Parker — on arco bass — later carries out that same kind of engagement with Perelman.
The union of four highly seasoned masters of improvisation in Ivo Perelman, Matthew Shipp, William Parker and Bobby Kapp got results that matches their lofty reputations. For the third time.
Synthesthesia is now available for purchase over at Bandcamp.
