‘The Data’ is some of Matthew Shipp’s most heartfelt and ardent of his solo piano albums, informed with a lifetime of jazz and classical studies behind it.

Like a fingerprint or snowflake, Ivo Perelman’s and Matthew Shipp’s ‘Magical Incantation’ is unique within a collection of other unique tie-ups even if the basic approaches are similar.

The Matthew Shipp Trio’s ‘New Concepts in Piano Trio Jazz’ further obliterates the line between composed and cursive, allowing for prettier melodic development while retaining all the element of surprise.

The seriously advanced improvising of ‘Fire Within’ is borne out of the fun that Rich Halley clearly had joining forces again with the like-minded Matthew Shipp Trio.

Matthew Shipp has made a lot of solo piano records but they never grow tiresome because of his ability to express something fresh every time. That’s the intrinsic nature of Shipp.

The unworldly communion of Ivo Perelman and Matthew Shipp is a sacred musical bond. During ‘Live In Carrboro,’ Jeff Cosgrove uncannily knows just how to not only keep that bond intact, but strengthen it further.

On ‘Triptych I, II & III,’ Ivo Perelman and Matthew Shipp 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.

Ivo Perelman and Matthew Shipp both thrive on finding different partners with which to exchange fresh ideas, but they always return to this special duo.

If you’re looking for a guitar / piano / acoustic bass combo that breaks all the rules, there’s probably only Gordon Grdina, Matthew Shipp and Mark Helias.

Kirk Knuffke has long been called a rising-star cornet player but ‘Gravity Without Airs’ is not the work of an ascending artist but a completely developed musician.