Two of the best jazz improvisers working today are based at opposite ends of the USA, but met to make a record that comes from creative forces residing in the same spiritual space. Portland, Oregon’s saxophone avanteer Rich Halley recently trekked over to the jazz capital of the world, NYC, to cut a record with one of its Downtown scene’s leading lights, pianist Matthew Shipp. With Shipp’s current, unsurpassed rhythm section (Michael Bisio, bass; Newman Taylor Baker, drums) along for this super session, Halley could hardly find musicians in this whole damned town more qualified to help him make his brand of outside jazz.
That’s the setup for Rich Halley’s latest recorded endeavor, Terra Incognita, a true summit meeting of masters. All the things that put these guys at the top of improvised heap are present in this collaboration, primarily, their natural ability to leverage the rich history of jazz to advance it as far out as it can go.
From the “Opening” cymbal taps from Taylor Baker, there’s a sense of the electricity that soon follows. Halley’s meaty tenor soon travels down a path not foreseen seconds earlier but altogether logical, and Shipp adds more shape to the instant melody. Even after the full four make their presence known, it’s the drummer who remains in control of the proceedings — or at the pulse of it — and never using his muscle to step on anyone else. Shipp gets his turn up front as Rich Halley takes a breather and lines up his approach precisely within the vision of the leader, something that’s not going to occur by happenstance. When Halley returns, he acts as if he’s accepted a challenge from Shipp to take it a step higher and uncorks a monstrous sax storm.
Halley introduces a deceptively simple motif for “Forager,” but Shipp’s trio knows just how to abstract it and flesh out bright complexities from it, providing Halley with a lot of fodder for taking it into many directions. Bisio’s spotlight is woody and wonderful, presaging a reset kicked off by Halley that keeps the momentum from sliding. “Centripetal” is balls-out bop with Halley several times teasing a step outside. Rich Halley is in a ballad mood for bass-less “The Elms,” a darker piece touching on dissonance, a combination on which Shipp excels (and as it turns out, so does Halley).
“Terra Incognita” dispenses with a steady groove for deeper band interaction, and the telepathy is on a near supernatural level. Per usual, Bisio is able to nimbly tie together the percussive and tonal elements of the song with accuracy and elasticity. At the end is “The Journey,” the longest trip this quartet takes, initially marked by Taylor-Baker’s quiet patters and Bisio’s probing bass. Shipp is making melody and Halley takes the cues and runs with them. What first seems as four distinct streams gradually merge together into one, four musicians coming together as a single unit. As Rich Halley’s passion swells, Shipp’s trio temper themselves to let the leader stand out.
Terra Incognita is exactly the quality avant-jazz you’d expect from the participants involved. This isn’t no East Coast meets West Coast kind of thing, just a meeting of great minds that think alike.
- Tonino Miano Trio – ‘Luminary’ (2024) - October 4, 2024
- Thumbscrew – ‘Wingbeats’ (2024) - October 2, 2024
- How Toto Set the Stage for Success With the Overlooked ‘Hydra’ - September 30, 2024
