In May of 1967, jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins went to Holland to do a show, record some tunes, and play live on TV. All of which was lost to time…”was” being the operative word there. All three performances were recently unearthed, and are now are available as Rollins In Holland (CD, vinyl), a two-disc set that thankfully preserves these no longer “long lost” recordings.
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.
Having heard plenty of jazz groups that consist of a piano player, a bassist, and a drummer, both with and without some combination of a saxophonist and / a trumpet player, I constantly find myself drawn to jazz that isn’t made by the usual suspects. It’s what drew me to the slow, moody clarinet of the Jimmy Giuffre 3’s 1961; what first appealed to me about the middle-eastern flavored jazz of Anour Brahem’s Thimar; and what now brings me to Deep Resonance (CD, digital), the new album by iconic jazz saxophonist Ivo Perelman and the jazz string threesome Arcado String Trio.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.