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Music Reviews

Ivo Perelman’s “Brass And Ivory Tales” Review

 

Throughout his career, saxophonist Ivo Perelman has worked with many different musicians, in many different configurations. But some of his best work has come when he’s teamed up with a piano player, be it Karl Berger (2014’s Reverie, 2016’s The Hitchhiker), Borah Bergman (1996’s Geometry), or the half a dozen he’s made with with Matthew Shipp. Which brings us to his new 9-disc boxed set, Brass And Ivory Tales (CD, digital), on which he collaborates with as many iconic piano players, most of whom are making their first appearance in his discography.

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Music Reviews

East Axis’ “Cool With That” Review

 

While many jazz bands take their names from their leaders and number of members — like, for example, The Miles Davis Quintet or The Red Garland Trio — there have been such exceptions as Return To Forever. But pianist Matthew Shipp apparently wants to have it both ways. Not only are the albums he’s made with horn player Mat Walerian credited both ways — their debut, Live At Okuden, was credited to both The Uppercut and the Matthew Shipp Mat Walerian Duo, for instance — but for the cover of Cool With That (CD, digital), the new album by the four-piece jazz band East Axis, he and his bandmates put their names on the cover as well. And yet, regardless of who gets the credit or the cover, Cool has the same kind of enticing free jazz adjacent music Shipp and his bandmates often make.

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Music Reviews

Ivo Perelman / Matthew Shipp’s “Amalgam” Review

 

Whether it’s together or with other people, saxophonist Ivo Perelman and pianist Matthew Shipp have always displayed an ability to play different forms of acoustic jazz, be it more traditionally structured, free form, or somewhere in between, and often on the same album. Which is what you get on Amalgam (CD, digital), their latest (but certainly not last) collaboration, and newest collection of duets.

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Music Reviews

Matthew Shipp Trio’s “The Unidentifiable” Review

 

With a career that spans more than 30 years and nearly 70 albums as a leader (and about as a many as a sideman), jazz pianist Matthew Shipp has more than established himself as a singular talent.

So it’s interesting how The Unidentifiable (CD, mp3, wav), his fourth album with his current trio, has moments that recall a certain other prolific piano player’s iconic threesome, albeit while still being very Shipp.

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Music Reviews

Okuden Quartet’s Every Dog Has Its Day But It Doesn’t Matter Because Fat Cat Is Getting Fatter Review

 

With a name like Every Dog Has Its Day But It Doesn’t Matter Because Fat Cat Is Getting Fatter, you might expect the new album by the Okuden Quartet — bass clarinetist / soprano clarinet player / alto saxophonist / flautist Mat Walerian, pianist Matthew Shipp, double bassist / shakuchi player William Parker, and drummer / percussionist Hamid Drake — to be pretentious or silly or a bit too much. Thankfully, the music on Every Dog Has Its Day But It Doesn’t Matter Because Fat Cat Is Getting Fatter (CD, digital) — and yes, I am going to write it out in full every time because SEO — is anything but. Instead, it’s an impressive collection of acoustic jazz that’s both moody and manic, and a worthy successor to the previous albums these four have recorded in various configurations.

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Music Reviews

Caterpillar Quartet’s Threads Review

 

On their debut album, Threads (MP3, cassette), the Caterpillar Quartet play jazz both free and traditionally with equal skill. But while they’re clearly good at playing jazz in either style, it’s how this album presents the two sides of their musical personality that may (or may not) split fans.

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Music Reviews

Ambrose Akinmusire’s “on the tender spot of every calloused moment” Review

 

Though he had recorded with them before (albeit always with other people), 2017’s A Rift In Decorum: Live At The Village Vanguard marked the true debut of Ambrose Akinmusire’s impressive jazz quartet, the most interesting new jazz combo since Matthew Shipp teamed up with Matt Walerian two years prior for Live At Okuden. Now the foursome have made their first studio album together, on the tender spot of every calloused moment (CD, digital, vinyl). And while most of it is equally as impressive as A Rift In Decorum, it does have some ill-fitting moments when three of the members go M.I.A. and their leader puts down his signature instrument.

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Music Reviews

Whit Dickey Morph Review

 

For some people, this may not be the best time for noisy, loosely structured free jazz. Or, really, anything that isn’t soothing. For the rest of us, though, there’s Whit Dickey’s Morph (CD, digital), an epic two-disc set on which the free jazz / free jazz adjacent drummer plays with pianist Matthew Shipp on the first disc, Reckoning, and with Shipp and trumpeter Nate Wooley on the second, Pacific Noir.

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Music Reviews

Ivo Perelman / Matthew Shipp / William Parker / Bobby Kapp’s “Ineffable Joy” Review

 

Sometimes jazz can be really incestuous. Just consider the careers of tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman, pianist Matthew Shipp, bassist William Parker, and drummer Bobby Kapp. Over the years, Perelman and Shipp have made around three dozen albums together; Shipp and Parker have recorded another two dozen; Perelman and Parker have five collaborations to their credit; while Perelman’s recorded two albums with Kapp, one of which features Shipp, and two others with Shipp and Parker, one of which features…wait for it…Kapp. It’s this latter configuration that presents Ineffable Joy (CD, vinyl, digital), a sometimes frantic and sometimes intricate collection that is this foursome’s second session after 2017’s Heptagon.