Way back in the 90’s, saxophonist David S. Ware fronted one of the most lauded small jazz combos of that time, a quartet backed by bassist William Parker, pianist Matthew Shipp and drummer Whit Dickey. Around the same time, Shipp formed his trio with Parker and Dickey and through this and various other incarnations, the three have been playing together on and off ever since but not captured in the studio as just these three since the Shipp-led Circular Temple from 1995. In that sense, the imminent release Village Mothership (Tao Forms) is a reunion but presented this time as a true collective of three leaders.
As the decades wore on, the reputation of each of the three has only been enhanced by works of innovation and wider scope but there’s still nothing quite like old compadres improvising together. This isn’t merely Dickey, Parker and Shipp going off to their corners doing their own thing, these are three strongly distinct musical personalities able to interlock with each other while unconsciously maintaining their identities.
“A Thing & Nothing” commences with the three playing loosely connected to each other, circling around each other closer and closer until they are flying along the same orbit, even as the orbit itself is constantly evolving. Percussion duties are shared by all three, but so are the harmonics. Dickey’s sinuous drums play a major role in shaping “Whirling In The Void,” as Shipp and Parker are playing in a code they both innately understand and play with nimble muscularity largely due to Shipp’s trademark fully-chorded excursions. For “Nothingness,” Shipp sets out the parameters and Parker/Dickey fill in the interesting details.
There’s really no drummer like Dickey, and that becomes conspicuous during his opening drum remarks on “Village Mothership,” which feels more of a primal human expression than mere percussion. It also instigates Parker and Shipp, who come up with phrasing that matches Dickey’s oblique sentiments. “Down Void Way” is briefer than the rest of the performances but also packed with more intensity, much of that applied by Parker’s vicious sawing and Shipp’s thunderous chords. But like any thunderstorm, the clouds break and a calmness settles in. More impossible symmetry happens on “Nothing & A Thing,” where Shipp spins out an oblique but pretty melodic development and Parker along with Dickey are with him every step of the way.
A triad of musical forces since the late eighties, Whit Dickey, William Parker and Matthew Shipp rekindle old spirits from that exciting time of the downtown New York jazz scene. It sounds as fresh as it ever did.
Village Mothership drops on October 15, 2021 courtesy of Tao Forms.
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