Right at the end of 2022, three newly recorded volumes of improvisations from Ivo Perelman and Matthew Shipp came to light, from German-based SMP Records. Triptych I, Triptych II and Triptych III are a continuation of the long-running partnership between of one the most foremost saxophonists and one the most foremost pianists in all of improvised music, coming just a few short months after the widely-applauded Fruition.
In the fine arts world, a triptych is “a set of three panels or compartments side by side, bearing pictures, carvings, or the like.” As an accomplished visual artist as well as an accomplished musician, Ivo Perelman is well-acquainted these type of art pieces and envisioned this as a metaphor for his latest improvised duet sessions with pianist Matthew Shipp.
Triptych I is a collection of a dozen shorter pieces, but even within each of these three- to six-minutes pieces, the two stuff a whole album’s worth of ideas that come up on the fly. As per usual, they never, ever wander aimlessly trying to figure out what to play next. It all comes out naturally and it comes in the form of actual melodies, even if those melodies are constantly shifting and mutating.
Perelman’s tenor is forever searching, reacting with either wistfully or with fervor in response to Shipp’s often-percussive attacks. Mostly, though, it’s hard to know who is leading who; most likely they are simply running on the same wavelength and simultaneously headed to the same place together.
When the moments of fragile beauty arrive, as on “Eight,” they are sublime and yet, neither is so self-serious that they can’t play with playful joy, as the frisky “Two” and “Six” attests. Overall, though, these are contemplative performances guided by the muses, not music theory.
The second and third volumes collectively comprise of a mere four tracks each lasting between fifteen and nineteen minutes. The primary difference heard on these extended pieces is that Perelman and Shipp take their time in developing their sketches; ideas might get articulated more fully before there’s a need felt to find the next one. Because there’s a certain flow that keeps the melodic progression always moving forward, these pieces don’t feel as long as they are. The intense familiarity between the two virtually assures that.
Even so, over the course of these longer duets, surprises do occasionally pop up. There’s a false ending about 12:20 into the first track of II, followed after about five seconds of silence into a whole new, descending figure motif that you would swear was planned because that began it together with no awkwardness, but that’s just how so in tuned to each other they have become.
All three volumes are now available from Bandcamp. Get Triptych I here, Triptych II here and Triptych III here.
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