Matthew Shipp - Equilibrium
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Music CD Cover
Artist: Matthew ShippEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2003-01-21
Music Label: Thirsty Ear
Soundtracks:
- Equilibrium
- Vamp to Vibe
- Nebula Theory
- Cohesion
- World of Blue Glass
- Portal
- The Root
- The Key
- Nu Matrix
Free Music Notes for Equilibrium
Free Music Review: Not as good as it sounds (in print)
Hit: 3 Stars
This is only my second exposure to matthew shipp (my first being on spring heel jacks "masses", where he appears only on a few tracks and tends to play quite sparingly), and I have to say that I don't understand the comparisons that people draw between shipp and other great pianists such as cecil taylor or (according to amazons reviewer) mccoy tyner.
To my ears, shipp (at least on this album) has close to no rhythmic creativity, his improvised melodies are dececnt but unimaginative, and his playing seems too heavy-handed, so he can't seem to create much variety in his tone. On the other hand, I do find some of the themes interesting, as well as some of his harmonies. However, "adventurous" he is not.
I have immense respect for william parker, and i think that of all the present-day upright bassists, he achieves the best balance of cerebral and intuitively enjoyable playing. However, we rarely glimpse his real talent on this album. He sounds mostly uninspired, though he always holds down a solid groove.
I don't know the guy on vibes, but he suffers similarly to Shipp. His improvisations are only slightly more interesting than shipps, but again, lack in rhythmic ideas.
But my worst complaint is the electronics guy, Flam. Aside from the fact that he is barely perceptible, when you DO pay attention, even his seemingly unintrusive ornamentations seem superfluous or awkward (the last track is maybe the exception). This may not detract from the album depending on what you are hoping for. I was looking for a new approach to the combination of jazz and electronica. If that is what you are looking for you will be disappointed.
I'm not interested in the question of whether or not this is "jazz", because it is just as valid a musical expression as any traditional jazz. But the fact remains that this is really nothing more "adventurous" than anything miles was doing in the 70's, but a whole lot less interesting.
If you want an interesting experiment in jazz and electronica with a beat, try the spring heel jack stuff on thirsty ear instead. If you're feeling particularly adventurous, get the evan parker electro-acoustic ensembles "drawn inward". This cd is not bad, but it doesn't provide many reasons in the positive sense to warrant much attention.
Equilibrium Poster
Delaware-born pianist Matthew Shipp has a rare gift for taking the jazz traditions of the past and translating them into the aural lingua franca of today's popular idioms. On this CD, his fourth in his label's so-called Blue Series, Shipp, along with bassist William Parker, drummer Gerald Cleaver, vibraphonist Khan Jamal, and synth-programmer Flam, brilliantly melds the aural imagery of Andrew Hill's '60s Blue Note classic Judgment! with contemporary electronica effects. Shipp's sound, which ingeniously blends Duke Ellington, Cecil Taylor, and McCoy Tyner, is elegantly anchored by Jamal's shimmering vibes. That floating kind of dreamtime is aurally illustrated on the title track, "Nebula Theory," and "Nu Matrix." The byte-size backbeats on "Vamp to Vibe" and "The Root" never get in the way of the swing, and "The Key," the most "straight-ahead" tune on the CD, reveals the logic and lyricism of Shipp's improvisations. This recording offers a recipe for jazz-based music that speaks to our times. "We are continuing to move into the future, exploring beat elements with modern jazz," Shipp writes in the liner notes. "Ultimately, the goal of this album is to take your mind on a trip." --Eugene Holley Jr.Jazz Music CDs
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