Matthew Shipp: Piano Song (The Blue Series) (CD)

Matthew Shipp (geb. 1960)

CD

CD (Compact Disc)

Conventional CD, playable with all CD players and computer drives, but also with most SACD or multiplayers.

deliverable within 1-2 weeks(if available from supplier)

Current price: EUR 19.99

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Label:: Thirsty Ear
Year of recording ca.:: 2016
Item number:: 5922033
UPC/EAN:: 0700435721227
Release date:: 27.1.2017

Listening to Matthew Shipp, one is always conscious that in between visceral feeling and a genuine transcendence there is a complex negotiation of language. It occurs between the musician and the music (whether it is his own conception or that of Duke Ellington), between the musician and his collaborators, between the musician and his audience, and between the musician and himself. For, like many piano players, Shipp has the option of playing with others or in apparent isolation, though pianists – who often favour the solo performance route – inevitably find themselves in dialogue with the great logarithm of equal temperament. Shipp’s unaccompanied performances are invariably crowded with company. His ability to reference a whole spectrum of pianism – and of great pianists – without losing the integrity of his own conception is without peer on the present scene. But perhaps the way to start listening to him, if oversight or youth or a shift in penal servitude mean that this is your first experience of a player who has been on the recording scene for some thirty years now, is in the company of like-minded and responsive colleagues. That circle is, of course, always wider than the three men (in this case) in studio or on stage. A further level of conversation, and possible contention, comes into play during a long association with a record label. Matthew Shipp began his association with Thirsty Ear in 1999, with a sensitively varied set of duets with bassist William Parker, pieces that ranged from free-form explorations to songlike forms. Since that time, he has curated the influential “Blue Series”, which has included some of the most vital recordings in contemporary creative music.