For the seventh in his Duologues series, ace tenor saxophonist and elite improvisor Ivo Perelman teams up with someone he’s been doing duologues with for three decades now: the highly original, highly virtuosic pianist Matthew Shipp.
Duologue 7: Distillation (Squid Note Records) adds another entry in what might be the most recorded duo in all of jazz music. This partnership continues because the well of ideas between them never gets exhausted (which is why Squidco has agreed release a new Perelman/Shipp duo every year eternally).
There’s so much left in the tank between these two that this particular Duologue spans over two discs/volumes. That’s about an hour and forty-nine minutes of music across nineteen performances. The tracks all run in roughly the four to seven minute range; Perelman and Shipp intend to see developments to their logical end points and no further.
The strategies the two devise changes from song to song, even within the song. For the first track on Volume One, Perelman creates harmony out of Shipp’s falling and rising chords. On the second, Shipp dispenses with rhythm and jousts telepathically with Perelman. The density clears up toward the end to enter a concluding moment of delicacy. For the next performance, Perelman makes tears come out of his saxophone as Shipp lend some sympathetic comping.
Later on, the sixth improvisation unfolds like a story, reaching an urgent peak in the middle and gently winding down afterwards. Shipp makes a key change on the following track about a minute in to abruptly change the flow of the song and then does it again a minute later. For the last performance of the first volume, Perelman leads with a melancholy but soulful diction as Shipp fills out the melodic fragments into a full song with his chords.
The second volume begins with Perelman playing ardently with a tone like Lester Young and on the following track he tactfully tests the upper register of the tenor’s range. On the fourth selection, I like how after a little chaos it gracefully resolves at the conclusion. For track number five, they play a trill in unison then settle into a lovely strain that navigates through several emotions with restraint. For “Seven,” Shipp concocts a delicate, fetching melody with twists and turns, while “Ten” feels like Perelman is taking the lead in shaping the melody.
When Ivo Perelman gets with Matthew Shipp to create instantaneous music, it’s sorcery borne out of years of getting deep inside each other’s head. Thirty years in, the magic is still there.
Duologue 7: Distillation is now available for your entertainment. Pick it up from Bandcamp.
- Ivo Perelman + Matthew Shipp – ‘Duologue 7: Distillation’ (2026) - October 6, 2026
- Samuel Bonnet Trio feat. Joe Magnarelli, “Liberation” from ‘Slow’ (2026): Video Premiere - October 5, 2026
- Christy Doran + Imran Khan – ‘Disambiguation’ (2026) - October 2, 2026
