#matthewshippquartet

[matwalerian]

NR 1 in TOP 5 JAZZ ALBUMS OF 2018 - AlbanyJazz, New York - Matthew Shipp Quartet with Mat Walerian Michael Bisio Whit Dickey "Sonic Fiction"

Matthew Shipp Quartet featuring Mat Walerian "Sonic Fiction" is Nr 1 on AlbanyJazz Albert Brooks Top 5 Jazz Albums Of 2018 list.

"On this arresting quartet date, Matthew Shipp’s spiky compositions and off-kilter pianistic excellence combine to provide continual delight."

Mike Bisio and Whit Dickey, long-term Shipp veterans, are integral components of this music; especially Bisio whose bass mastery is always a joy to experience, whether he’s playing a supportive role or showcasing his sublime talents as a soloist.

"However, it is Mat Walerian who is the surprise treat here. His playing (alto saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet) is revelatory and perfectly suited to Shipp’s brilliant compositions."

Top 5 Jazz Albums of 2018 list by AlbanyJazz available here :

http://www.albanyjazz.com/topfive/2018-topfive-staff.html

[matwalerian]

BEST ALBUMS OF 2018 - Paste Magazine - Signs of Life in Music, Film & Culture - Matthew Shipp Quartet with Mat Walerian Michael Bisio Whit Dickey "Sonic Fiction"

Matthew Shipp Quartet featuring Mat Walerian "Sonic Fiction" made it to Paste Magazine Geoffrey Himes best of the year album list.

Steve Reich, Laurie Anderson & the Kronos Quartet, Charles Lloyd, Henry Threadgill, Meshell Ndegeocello, Wayne Shorter, Paul McCartney, Bill Frisell, Terence Blanchard, JD Allen, and Matthew Shipp Quartet among others. Thank you.

Best of the Year list by Paste Magazine available here :

https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2019/01/the-curmudgeon-two-ways-to-write-about-music.html

[matwalerian]

BEST OF THE YEAR 2018 - JAZZ PORTUGAL - Matthew Shipp Quartet with Mat Walerian Michael Bisio Whit Dickey “Sonic Fiction”

Matthew Shipp Quartet "Sonic Fiction" made it to the JAZZ PORTUGAL Joao Esteves Da Silva's Best of the year list !

Best of the Year list by JAZZ PORTUGAL available here :

https://www.jazz.pt/artigos/2018/12/27/melhores-de-2018

[matwalerian]

BEST OF THE YEAR 2018 - TOP 10 - JAZZ JOURNALISTS ASSOCIATION - Matthew Shipp Quartet with Mat Walerian Michael Bisio Whit Dickey “Sonic Fiction”

Matthew Shipp Quartet "Sonic Fiction" made it to the JAZZ JOURNALISTS ASSOCIATION John Szwed's Top 10 Best of the year list !

Wayne Shorter and Charles Lloyd on Blue Note, some reissues of Charles Mingus, also "Lost Album" by John Coltrane Quartet and Matthew Shipp Quartet Sonic Fiction among others.

The place to be. Thank you.

Best of the Year list by JAZZ JOURNALISTS ASSOCIATION available here :

http://members.jazzjournalists.org/2018-Best-Lists/6953224

[matwalerian]

AllAboutJazz - magazine and website for jazz enthusiasts and industry professionals - review - Matthew Shipp Quartet with Mat Walerian Michael Bisio Whit Dickey “Sonic Fiction” - by Don Phipps

"Sonic Fiction, an album chock full of bluesy, quirky, sonic landscapes that suggest a late-night visit to a Tom Waits' greasy spoon diner or a starless midnight walk along a creaky fisherman's wharf."

"... blues abstraction combined with elements of free music. The improvisations on Sonic Fiction are at times breathtaking. Explosive, dark, flowing, adventurous, and challenging, this is music that engages and at times explodes. Recommended."

"The music incorporates a mix of bop and free-improv elements. Towards the end, Shipp and Walerian perform a call-and-response with awesome technique (...) an intriguing exploration of blues abstractions and free playing that is as evocative as it is cerebral."

"On "The Station," Walerian sounds part Eric Dolphy and part David Murray (...) Walerian enters on alto at the halfway mark. His elevator runs jet up and down as Shipp and company explore multiple tangents."

Prolific composer and pianist Matthew Shipp demonstrates his craft on Sonic Fiction, an album chock full of bluesy, quirky, sonic landscapes that suggest a late-night visit to a Tom Waits' greasy spoon diner or a starless midnight walk along a creaky fisherman's wharf. Shipp gives his talented cohorts, Mat Walerian on clarinet and sax, Michael Bisio on bass, and Whit Dickey on drums, plenty of room to maneuver and paint their own sonic stories. The result is an intriguing exploration of blues abstractions and free playing that is as evocative as it is cerebral.

"First Step" opens with a bluesy intro. Walerian's alto sax has a closing-time drawl and Shipp paints a dusky picture with his piano chords. The bass and drum float lazily underneath. Shipp stays with the blues on "Blues Addition." This piece has a feel of drunken melancholy. With Bisio providing a bass counterpoint, Walerian uses the clarinet to create extended phrases that scale up and down the registers. He slaps his tongue across the reed for emphasis. Bisio plucks and twangs underneath Walerian's plaintive moans to add color to the late-night ramble.

On "The Station," Walerian sounds part Eric Dolphy and part David Murray. He uses his bass clarinet solo to sculpt legato phrases of deep somber long notes, howls, squeals, boisterous squawks, and soft tones. Another bluesy ramble, "Lines of Energy" gives Walerian the opportunity to improvise over Shipp's pecks and probes. Bisio aggressively works the bass and Dickey explores drum timbres and rolls. As Shipp rumbles on the piano, Walerian's sax lines dance above with squeals before the piece ends abruptly.

Shipp solos on "Easy Flow." He offers up a combination of bluesy formalism and loose counterpoint. The piano phrases are complex and discordant, probing but not dark. Bisio begins "The Problem of Jazz" with a robust walk. Walerian and Dickey enter in a fury. Walerian uses the reed to blow rattling pronouncements and Dickey and Shipp splash beneath. Dickey rolls and snaps the drum kit. Then, Bisio suddenly goes from a bass walk to a kind of slappy abstract blues line. The piece ends on a single bass note.

"The Note," a novelty, consists solely of a single high note that Shipp strikes on the piano.

Shipp commences "3 by 4" with some free playing and Dickey's aggressive drumming flows beneath the piano phrasing. Bisio works the bass up and down the neck. Walerian enters on alto at the halfway mark. His elevator runs jet up and down as Shipp and company explore multiple tangents.

On "Cell in the Brain," Shipp starts inside the piano with an eerie twang. Dickey adds a bass-drum effect. Walerian's legato phrasing on clarinet extends over Dickey's drum rolls. Shipp enters with emphasis and Walerian squeals and laughs his clarinet as Shipp begins a series of single legato notes. Walerian continues to howl and hoot but never loses control. Shipp adds a splash here and there, and as Walerian finishes with a few choice legato notes, he plays a note inside the piano.

On "Sonic Fiction," Walerian dances phrases above Shipp's piano lines. As the duet develops, Shipp plays some all-over blues abstractions before breaking into a full chord march. Walerian blows hot above. The duet ends when Bisio and Dickey enter, with Bisio producing deep bass lines as Dickey adds color underneath. The playing shifts to piano trio as Bisio busily bows the bass beneath Shipp's piano lines and Walerian's sax squeals above. The bass notes turn into hot lava, and Walerian effects the fiery splashes of volcanic eruption. After the extended trio, Bisio bows a long line and Shipp enters with strong piano-chord splashes of his own. Suddenly Bisio initiates a bass walk and the music turns to bop. Shipp plays inside the harmonics and Walerian produces high notes and low. The music incorporates a mix of bop and free-improv elements. Towards the end, Shipp and Walerian perform a call-and-response with awesome technique.

Like other Shipp albums, this one remains true to his vision—blues abstraction combined with elements of free music. The improvisations on Sonic Fiction are at times breathtaking. Explosive, dark, flowing, adventurous, and challenging, this is music that engages and at times explodes. Recommended.

read full review here :

https://www.allaboutjazz.com/sonic-fiction-matthew-shipp-esp-disk-review-by-don-phipps.php

[matwalerian]

ALLMUSIC - one of the definitive music sources online - review - Matthew Shipp Quartet with Mat Walerian Michael Bisio Whit Dickey “Sonic Fiction”

Album Moods : Ambitious, Improvisatory, Organic, Spiritual, Uncompromising, Airy, Atmospheric, Benevolent, Dramatic, Elaborate, Literate, Spontaneous, Sprawling, Dignified/Noble, Intense, Joyous, Turbulent, Calm/Peaceful, Devotional, Freewheeling.

Album Themes : Maverick, Imagination.

"One would be hard-pressed to find a Matthew Shipp quartet recording as democratically executed as Sonic Fiction."

"(...) framework of dialogic expression, a music of ideas communicated, exchanged, and put forth directly and intimately... shared multivalent lingual space where musical equations are stated, re-examined, and ultimately balanced before they emerge as a new sonic terrain..."

"(...) spontaneous contrapuntal statements by each of the quartet's members while exuding a mutant swing... the work fluctuates via tensions that involve everything from modal and free improvisation; it never loses its focus or relents in its tension, building drive until it reaches its stated intent as a fingerpopping, angular, 21st century re-imagining of bop."

One would be hard-pressed to find a Matthew Shipp quartet recording as democratically executed as Sonic Fiction, and there are several reasons to speculate why. Foremost is that drummer Whit Dickey and bassist Michael Bisio have been with the pianist a long time. The newcomer in this outfit is Polish saxophonist and reed player Mat Walerian. He and the pianist issued the duo recording Live at Okudenas the Uppercut in 2015, followed by two Walerian-led dates in trios with drummer Hamid Drake and bassist William Parker, respectively.

Sonic Fiction is offered as a framework of dialogic expression, a music of ideas communicated, exchanged, and put forth directly and intimately. With the exception of the closing title track, most of the remaining ten pieces are of middling length at four and six minutes.

Opener "First Steps" offers a smoky, bluesy atmosphere with Shipp emerging from the middle register with skeletal chord voicings accompanied by Walerian's dark alto, followed by Dickey's shimmering cymbals and Bisio's arco bass. It introduces "Blues Addition" with Shipp alternating between shadowy Ellingtonia and striated Monk harmonics with lush surprises between -- including quotes from tunes "St James Infirmary," "If I Only Had a Brain," and other standards while focusing his left hand on a series of rumbling chords. He drops out and Walerian's clarinet replaces him, soulfully stretching the blues frame to the margin without dissembling it. Bisio's bassline, rather than merely walk the changes, finds spaces between his lines, adding fills, codas, chords, and counterpoint.

"The Station" is a solo piece for clarinet; it's expansive, angular, and at times otherworldly. It's followed by the groupthink in "Lines of Energy," a knotty, angular number that works off spontaneous contrapuntal statements by each of the quartet's members while exuding a mutant swing. Shipp's "Energy Flow" is a gorgeous solo piece built on chord voicings and scalar inquiries that investigate the seams in each and melds them fugue-wise.

"The Problem of Jazz" finds Bisio playing a fleet yet repetitive bop phraseology. It only changes when he's joined by Walerianand Dickey, who counter with energetic improvisation and slip in new schemas. Bisio adds a slowly walking blues solo over the last two minutes to carry it out.

The 11-plus-minute title track spends its first three investigating partial thematic ideas contrasted with spiky improvisation before Shipp and Walerian touch on the blues for a moment. Dickey and Bisio's arco bass enters and the work fluctuates via tensions that involve everything from modal and free improvisation; it never loses its focus or relents in its tension, building drive until it reaches its stated intent as a fingerpopping, angular, 21st century re-imagining of bop.

Sonic Fiction marks a new phase for Shipp as its evolves from his previous outings with Walerian toward a shared multivalent lingual space where musical equations are stated, re-examined, and ultimately balanced before they emerge as a new sonic terrain.

read full review here :

https://www.allmusic.com/album/sonic-fiction-mw0003140612

[matwalerian]

Jazz Trail New York - review - Matthew Shipp Quartet with Mat Walerian Michael Bisio Whit Dickey “Sonic Fiction” - by Filipe Freitas

"With Bisio and Dickey assuring a firm foundation, Shipp and Walerian ascend the stairway to the stars, putting their eminent rapport at the service of another impressive release"

"... tracks that explore mood through different sonic possibilities ... intimate, dramatic, and often mysterious musical setting ... shows the musicians’ respect for the blues genre and the enormous talent to bring it in spontaneously with a unique, visionary approach..."

"Expect striking action-reaction between Shipp and Walerian (...) abundant rhythmic ideas packed with crisp accents and no apparent regard to form are constantly thrown in ... the increase/release of tension is constantly fed (...) Embracing a groovy atmosphere, it nearly enters free-bop zones."

Pianist Matthew Shipp, whose original voice constantly surprises and hypnotizes, returns in full force, spearheading a creative quartet with Polish multi-instrumentalist Mat Walerian, bassist Michael Bisio, and drummer Whit Dickey. The follow up to the marvelous trio session Piano Song(Thirsty Ear, 2016) was released on the ESP-Disk label with the title Sonic Fiction and comprises ten tracks that explore mood through different sonic possibilities.

The quartet opens with “First Step”, where plaintive yet tense piano voicings, solemnly bowed bass, rambling saxophone lines, and whimsical cymbal impacts converge within an intimate, dramatic, and often mysterious musical setting.

The drum-less “Blues Addiction” shows the musicians’ respect for the blues genre and the enormous talent to bring it in spontaneously with a unique, visionary approach. Unaccompanied, Shipp starts by introducing sinuous bluesy lines supported by incisive bass notes inflicted with the left-hand, but his enveloping sound is suddenly muted to give place to an elastic duet of round bass plucks and velvety clarinet lines.

“The Station”, the first of a couple of solo pieces, is intended for Walerian’s bass clarinet, gaining avant-garde connotations through the use of ruminative jargon, long multi-pitched wails, occasional motifs, and other sonic splotches.

Before “Easy Flow” has been cooked up with an uncompromising solo piano, the full quartet delivers consecutive “Lines of Energy”, which may comfort or disquiet you. Expect striking action-reaction between Shipp and Walerian.

The powerful avant-jazz of “The Problem of Jazz”, suppressing the piano, works through a brisk swinging groove laid down by Bisio, which is periodically overcome by saxophone attacks tied to irruptions of energetic drumming.

The last three tracks immediately caught my attention. On the playful “3 by 4”, abundant rhythmic ideas packed with crisp accents and no apparent regard to form are constantly thrown in. A small part of its throttling energy is extended to “Cell in the Brain”, a piece that emphasizes tonal qualities more than melodic statements. Despite the predominant tranquility, the increase/release of tension is constantly fed by Whitey’s mallet activity.

The title track is the recording’s longest piece and one of the most ravishing as it ends the session with multiple intricacies, oblique moves, and extra angularity in the texture. Embracing a groovy atmosphere, it nearly enters free-bop zones with Walerian’s alto sax digressions on top of Shipp’s cluster-infused comping and jabbing left-hand detonations. It's pretty evocative of Cecil Taylor's early work.

With Bisio and Dickey assuring a firm foundation, Shipp and Walerian ascend the stairway to the stars, putting their eminent rapport at the service of another impressive release.

read full review here :

http://jazztrail.net/blog/2018/2/7/matthew-shipp-quartet-sonic-fiction-album-review

[matwalerian]

JAZZIZ Magazine - The Authoriative Voice in Jazz - review - Matthew Shipp Quartet with Mat Walerian Michael Bisio Whit Dickey “Sonic Fiction” - by John Frederic Moore

"Brooding chamber atmosphere of First Step ... the group improvisation inject a shot of adrenaline ..."

"Sonic Fiction puts the emphasis firmly on the quartet ... pieces convey various moods and textures ... compositional diversity and the easy rapport among the band members ... avant-garde leanings while remaining grounded in jazz tradition ..."

"The dynamic among the supporting crew is so strong ... The kaleidoscopic title track journeys through free jazz and hard-swinging post-bop ..."

"The Station" provides a solo spotlight for Walerian's skills on bass clarinet, while on "Blues Addition", Shipp's melodic blues-drenched lines give way to a loose-limbed duet by Bisio and Walerian on clarinet."

JAZZIZ Magazine - The Authoritative Voice in Jazz - Summer 2018

https://www.jazziz.com

[matwalerian]

Jazz Magazine France - Issue 707 Juillet 2018 - review **** 4 stars - Matthew Shipp Quartet with Mat Walerian Michael Bisio Whit Dickey “Sonic Fiction” - by David Cristol

"Black matter and gray matter telescope in hyperspace."

"... led by a Homeric bassist, as on 3 by 4, Walerian handles fire with care and treble with refinement."

"... all that we love at Shipp. His jazz walks on the tight rope, tends towards the free without giving up the most lively impulses contained by flexible but well drawn compositions."

For "Sonic Fiction" (ESP) [****] dated December 18, 2015, Shipp's regular trio (Michael Bisio, b, Whit Dickey, dm) is augmented by Mat Walerian's alto sax and clarinets.

Walerian recorded several times with Shipp on the historic label, and their collaboration continued at the 2018 edition of the Vision festival.

On The Problem of Jazz, led by a Homeric bassist, as on 3 by 4, Walerian handles fire with care and treble with refinement.

At the heart of the program, an unaccompanied piece, Easy Flow, concentrates in a few minutes all that we love at Shipp.

His jazz walks on the tight rope, tends towards the free without giving up, the most lively impulses contained by flexible compositions but well drawn. Until the final piece, more open to collective expression.

Issue 707, Juillet 2018 - full issue available here : http://www.jazzmagazine.com/magazines/jazz-magazine-n707/

Jazz Magazine is a French magazine dedicated to jazz. The magazine was created in 1950 by Nicole and Eddie Barclay and Jacques Souplet. Frank Ténot - who had left Jazz Hot to join Jazz Magazine - and Daniel Filipacchi became directors of the magazine soon after its creation, becoming owners in 1956.

http://www.jazzmagazine.com

[matwalerian]

FreeForm, FreeJazz - review - Matthew Shipp Quartet with Mat Walerian Michael Bisio Whit Dickey “Sonic Fiction”

"Walerian taking something almost bluesy from his sax and Shipp accompanying it in dense spaced notes that catch our senses full, with an almost melody forming and getting lost in space"

"Walerian ... is closely linked to Japanese philosophy and Japanese culture ... in his footprint music that avoids explosive spikes and does not ignore the relevance of the silences."

"The title track closes the job ... brings different twists, gaining intensity and entering its final minutes in a field more markedly jazz."

Matthew Shipp appears here in quartet, alongside two former partners, Michael Bisio (bass) and Whit Dickey (drums), and a more recent, Polish saxophonist Mat Walerian.

Shipp began playing with Walerian a few years ago, but has already recorded in duo ("Live at Okuden") and trio (accompanied by William Parker and Hamid Drake). Walerian, 33, who plays alto sax, clarinet and bass clarinet, is closely linked to Japanese philosophy and Japanese culture, perceptible foci in his footprint music that avoids explosive spikes and does not ignore the relevance of the silences.

Sonic Fiction was captured in December 2015 at Parkwest Studios (NY), being the trio of Shipp at the time with the addition of the saxophonist. The album begins very relaxed ("First Step"), with Walerian taking something almost bluesy from his sax and Shipp accompanying it in dense spaced notes that catch our senses full, with an almost melody forming and getting lost in space, filled by metallic tones, with Dickey leading the dishes as only he knows how to do.

The feeling lingers on the second theme, which is called, not by chance, "Blues Addition", but here with the piano humming from the start and leading us to something more swinging accompanied by the clarinet.

Lines of Energy is, as the title indicates, the most vibrant; even if not sparkling, Walerian's high sax responds with greater intensity, giving a firmer grip to the piece. Following this comes a solo piano piece ("Easy Flow"), before Bisio takes center stage with a brief solo introduction of bass opening "The Problem of Jazz", cut briefly by blow and drums, scheme repeated a few times in an interesting dynamics.

"3 by 4" brings Shipp back to the forefront, with a long development in trio only. The title track closes the job, once again starting in contained tone; being the most extensive of the set, brings different twists, gaining intensity and entering its final minutes in a field more markedly jazz.

read full review here :

http://www.freeformfreejazz.org/2018/04/a-arte-multipla-de-matthew-shipp.html

[matwalerian]

Top ten - Jazz Charts - New Orleans - WTUL 91.5 FM - Matthew Shipp Quartet with Mat Walerian Michael Bisio Whit Dickey - "Sonic Fiction".

Miles Davis & John Coltrane The Bootleg Series, Andrew Cyrille, Kamasi Washington, Jason Stein, and Matthew Shipp Quartet among others. WTUL'S top 10 new jazz albums.

about WTUL :

WTUL is a progressive/alternative FM radio outlet in New Orleans, Louisiana, established in 1959.

The original broadcasting home of Jerry Springer, Ernie K-Doe and DJ Soul Sister, WTUL has a long tradition as the oldest non-commercial radio station in New Orleans.

WTUL Won Editor’s Pick for Best Radio Station in The Gambit’s Best of New Orleans 2012 and was voted Radio Station of the year by OffBeat Magazine in 2010.

WTUL's Top 30 New Albums available here :

http://www.wtulneworleans.com/209-wtul-s-top-30-new-albums-from-11-12-18-11-18-18

[matwalerian]

Spectrum Culture Magazine - review - Matthew Shipp Quartet with Mat Walerian Michael Bisio Whit Dickey “Sonic Fiction” - by Will Layman

"It is music that makes you more human and more alive ... It is a joy and a joke, though a perfectly serious one ... They sound great together, listening constantly and dueling with casual grace."

"Walerian (...) plays with superb control even when he is using “extended techniques” to overblow, squeak, or play split tones. “The Station” is a pure bass clarinet solo."

Pianist Matthew Shipp is a creative force, a wiry channel for creative improvisation whose two new recordings on ESP-Disk, Sonic Fiction (with a quartet) and Zero (solo piano) demonstrate his range: from lyrical to knotty, from blues-drenched to abstract, from difficult to easy-as-pie.

Shipp is a veteran of the New York “downtown scene”, and he achieved a certain beyond-jazz renown in the ‘90s when his music—and particularly the music he was making with saxophonist David S. Ware’s quartet—was featured alongside rock and post-punk artists whose music connected as regal and defiant at once. Ware’s band was actually signed to the Cadillac of record labels, Columbia, in 1997 by Branford Marsalis. For a time, Shipp was the thorny pianist in the coolest jazz band on Earth.

Neither Ware not Shipp was one to compromise, and their moment in the spotlight was reasonably short. Why? Because they shared a creative, restless, uncontainable sensibility. And while Shipp left the quartet in 2007 (and Ware sadly died in 2012 at only 62), the pianist was already on his own path of daring invention. He delved into free improvisation, electronics, hip-hop, all kinds of duets, variations on jazz standards. But for all this variation, Shipp’s music maintained unity. His music always has a ravishing combination of compositional power and refracted strangeness. It is easy to follow its logic and power, but there is always something weird or disruptive at its heart, whether a craggy rhythm, a curious dissonance or the element of pure surprise. And those disruptions are why it is exceptional music.

Shipp releases music with speed and abandon, and Sonic Fiction and Zero were released just eight days apart, though the quartet date is from 2015 and the solo set is from last May. Sonic Fiction features Shipp’s longstanding trio with Whit Dickey on drums and Michael Bisio on bass and adds Mat Walerian on alto saxophone, clarinet, and bass clarinet. It is a joy and a joke, though a perfectly serious one.

Among the 10 tracks, “The Note” is the shortest, consisting of a single piano note, struck once and allowed to ring with its echoing overtones for 17 seconds. “The Problem of Jazz” might seem equally jokey, as it starts with one of jazz’s standing clichés: a walking bass line by Bisio, fast and supple, like Ron Carter jacked on some cocaine. Walerian and Dickey enter suddenly, frenetic but light on their feet, but for only 30 or so super-fast bars. Bisio continues, undeterred. Drums and saxophone reenter, but in a totally different mood, growling and smearing the blues, then they are OUT again. Bisio, busy, double-stops and stutters, but always at that fast tempo. Then alto and drums again, playful this time. This toggling continues, with the band playing a different way each time: free squiggles, low grunts leading to swirls–then Biso cuts the tempo back to half time and digs in so gloriously deep, playing blues licks that finally bottom out to a way low note. But who does not participate at all in the “The Problem of Jazz”? Shipp himself. Ha.

Mainly, we get Shipp in heaping doses. “Blues Addition” begins with a two-minute piano solo that is largely consonant and clear, though its pretty chords keep shifting in unusual directions. Shipp will play a blues-drenched eight bars, then a sunny run of chords that sound like light refracting through a skylight. He finds moments of cool two-hand counterpoint and then ends it with a thumping rhythmic figure. Bisio and Walerian follow with a blues duet, bass clarinet bending notes and hunting for 12-bar style chord changes that never quite come. They sound great together, listening constantly and dueling with casual grace.

There are more conventional quartet performances as well. “Lines of Energy” is a pure quartet group improvisation, with each member finding their place in a stop-start kind of groove. “3 by 4” begins as a highly intuitive improvisation for the piano trio alone, with Shipp generating a high percentage of slight of hand where he seems to improvise a middle voice line while also creating a melody high in the piano’s register. Soon, however, Walerian comes in on alto to add what seems now to be a third voice. The piece concludes with thunderous moments that devolve back to a throbbing, peaceful conclusion. “Cell in the Brain” is ballad improvisation for the quartet, using clarinet that bends notes often as the trio works atmospherics on the canvas. The long title track is the most tonal free improvisation in the set, an interlocking set of statements.

Walerian, born in Poland, has been a frequent partner to Shipp in the last few years. He plays with superb control even when he is using “extended techniques” to overblow, squeak, or play split tones. “The Station” is a pure bass clarinet solo. But the best solo here belongs to the leader. “Easy Flow” is just Shipp, improvising from scratch, building lines and chords atop each other like they were Legos, finding lyricism where you least expect it.

The truth is that Shipp can sound as suddenly melodic as Chick Corea or as insistently soulful as Keith Jarrett. He simply does it without a single hackneyed phrase or stock lick. He has the ballad touch of Brad Mehldau but without any sense of cushion from known tunes or repeated harmonic patterns. This is not to put down these more conventional jazz pianists but just to say that Matthew Shipp achieves the same wonders and pleasures but does so through less conventional launching pads and less conventional technique. Yet he does it—and the results are perhaps more starling and beautiful because they come without any familiar markers of “beauty.”

Unlike most “jazz” musicians, Matthew Shipp inhabits a space that he creates nearly from scratch every time he plays. That is not to say that he always improvises freely but rather than his technique is always pushing toward something that will astonish you. Unable to play the predictable, he seems to follow a path that unfolds before him without obvious precedent. That the path turns out of have form, that it turns out to take a logical journey, gets you every time. Gets you somewhere. To the next note. To the next feeling. It is music that makes you more human and more alive.

read full review here :

https://spectrumculture.com/2018/03/21/matthew-shipp-sonic-fiction-zero-review/

[matwalerian]

AllAboutJazz - magazine and website for jazz enthusiasts and industry professionals - review - Matthew Shipp Quartet with Mat Walerian Michael Bisio Whit Dickey “Sonic Fiction” - by Karl Ackermann

"The shared deference and camaraderie in this free-spirited outing allows for an appreciation of even the slightest details and distinctions—elements that can easily be lost in such an open setting. "

"(...) relatively compact pieces cover a lot of musical territories ... all-hands amalgams of bebop and free playing..."

"(...) music is in line with the expectations ... The reedist's playing is inventive, even at its most subtle ... Sonic Fiction is as perplexing, interesting and spirited as any of Shipp's quartet work."

The ESP-Disk label simultaneously has released two distinctly different leader dates from Matthew Shipp. Zero is an excellent solo piano album, and here, we have Shipp's namesake quartet on the ten-track Sonic Fiction. The shared deference and camaraderie in this free-spirited outing allows for an appreciation of even the slightest details and distinctions—elements that can easily be lost in such an open setting.

The quartet is made up of familiar Shipp colleagues but not previously heard in this specific grouping. Polish saxophonist and reed player Mat Walerian has the most recently established association with Shipp. The pair released Live at Okuden (ESP-Disk, 2015) under the duo name The Uppercut. The duo followed up with two more albums in the trio format with Hamid Drake and William Parker respectively. Bassist/composer Michael Bisio has been a member of Shipp's trio since 2009, first recording with that group on Art of the Improviser (Thirsty Ear, 2011). Bisio has released more than a dozen recordings as a leader and has composed for film as well. New York free jazz drummer Whit Dickey has a long and extensive history with Shipp, appearing on fourteen of the pianist's albums, and on two of his own leader dates.

Sonic Fiction's relatively compact pieces cover a lot of musical territories. "Blues Addition" opens with an appealingly melodic solo from Shipp. Bisio then bridges the piano with Walerian's languorous clarinet. Similarly paced and structured is "Cell in the Brain" though the melodies are more episodic; the abstraction more in the forefront. "The Station" features Walerian—again on clarinet—employing extended techniques on this solo piece. Shipp's gentle, but idiosyncratic "Easy Flow" is a solo track as well. On "The Problem of Jazz" Bisio takes an extended solo through the first half of the piece whereupon Walerian, on alto, bursts in with a fiery improvisation before handing it back to Bisio who resumes his solo for a satisfying wrap-up. "Lines of Energy," "3 by 4" and the title track are all-hands amalgams of bebop and free playing.

Shipp's own presence on Sonic Fiction is limited as his democratic approach to the quartet puts Walerian and Bisio out front on many of the tunes. Dickey, as always, is a propulsive force, even as he proceeds with understated shading and texture. As produced by this unit, the music is in line with the expectations that have come out of Walerian and Shipp's previous work. The reedist's playing is inventive, even at its most subtle, and an effective contrast to Shipp's edgier passages. Overall, the lexicon here is clearly one that has been developed and honed by Shipp over time and Sonic Fiction is as perplexing, interesting and spirited as any of Shipp's quartet work.

read full review here :

https://www.allaboutjazz.com/sonic-fiction-matthew-shipp-esp-disk-review-by-karl-ackermann.php

[matwalerian]

PopMatters - international magazine of cultural criticism - review - Matthew Shipp Quartet with Mat Walerian Michael Bisio Whit Dickey “Sonic Fiction” - by John Garratt

"Speaking of a new set of tricks, Sonic Fiction is a real treat (...) unique in the realm of piano jazz (...) still thrusting himself into a void in search of something impossible to name (...) his music is almost ridiculously vital."

If you have heard anything by Shipp before, you'll know that the albums Zero and Sonic Fiction are unique in the realm of piano jazz (There's that word again, but I need to use it out of convenience!).

Speaking of a new set of tricks, Sonic Fiction is a real treat. Where Zero and its accompanying lecture are intellectual, Shipp's other ESP release with his quartet is more playful yet no less stimulating.

All ten selections are composed by Shipp, but he lets reedman Mat Walerian completely take over on "The Station", softly humming and noisily skronking for six whole minutes. Shipp reserves "Easy Flow" for himself, a song name that works on a sliding scale -- you know, "easy" in comparison to Cecil Taylor. The provocatively named "The Problem of Jazz" is mainly an excuse for bassist Michael Bisio to furiously walk up and down the scale in eighth notes. Then there's "The Note", a 17-second track consisting of -- yep, you got it! -- a single piano note held out by the sustain pedal.

If any of that sounds like Shipp and his band are just screwing with you, rest assured that there are numbers like "3 by 4" and the title track to remind you that Shipp is not only an expert improviser and composer, he's also a pretty ace bandleader.

More than 25 years into his recording career, Matthew Shipp is still thrusting himself into a void in search of something impossible to name. Jazz is just a word, improvisation just a means. The resulting music is getting harder and harder for a person like me to convey in writing because there are so many genre labels you can drop before someone's mind starts to glaze over.

All I can really say is that Zero is stimulating, the lecture is bewildering, and Sonic Fiction is fun. And that's only two hours and 40 minutes of what Shipp is unleashing upon us this year. No matter what time of year it is, no matter how many months separate you from whatever he's up to, his music is almost ridiculously vital.

full review available here :

https://www.popmatters.com/2018-belongs-to-matthew-shipp-2561813848.html

PopMatters is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers many aspects of popular culture. PopMatters publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, comics, sports, theater, visual arts, travel, and the Internet

https://www.popmatters.com

[matwalerian]

The Wire - Adventures in Sound and Music - review - Matthew Shipp Quartet with Mat Walerian Michael Bisio Whit Dickey “Sonic Fiction” - by Stewart Smith

"this is a democratic unit ... alto saxophone, rising thoughtfully up blue melodic coils to dangle briefly off the edge ... exacting investigation to tonal clusters that resolves in a gorgeous ballad form."

Matthew Shipp may have signalled his intention to retire from studio work, but the music keeps flowing from the pianist's fingertips

Sonic Fiction features three of his regular collaborators coming together as a new quartet. Shipp is ostensibly the leader, but this is a democratic unit, in which Polish multi-reedist Mat Walerian plays a definitive role.

Shipp's pensive chordal voicings open "First Step", but the lead voice is Walerian's alto saxophone, rising thoughtfully up blue melodic coils to dangle briefly off the edge. On the solo piece "The Station", Walerian prowls the lower quarters of his bass clarinet, the deliberate pace interrupted by sharp bursts of panic.

In contrast, Shipp's solo "Easy Flow" is an exacting investigation to tonal clusters that resolves in a gorgeous ballad form. Bassist Michael Bisio kicks off "The Problem Of Jazz" with an extended solo, cantering through the scales as a skewed angle. 70 seconds in, Walerian enters with an alto sax that alternately mewls and purrs, while drummer Whit Dickey jumps in with powerful rhythmic fragments. Walerian and Dickey move in and out of the frame, while Shipp sits it out altogether.

"Cell In The Brain" is altogether more abstract, opening with a dialogue between piano and clarinet over Dickey's mallet rolls. After an intense build up Dickey falls away, leaving Walerian to drape long lines of altissimo clarinet over Shipp's minimal bass keys and plucked strings.

Issue 389, July 2016 - full issue available here : https://www.thewire.co.uk/issues/411

The Wire is a British avant garde music magazine, founded in 1982 by jazz promoter Anthony Wood and journalist Chrissie Murray. The magazine initially concentrated on contemporary jazz and improvised music, but branched out in the early 1990s to various types of experimental music.

Since then it has covered hip hop, modern classical, free improvisation, post-rock, and various forms of electronic music.

www.thewire.co.uk

[matwalerian]

DownBeat Magazine - Jazz, Blues & Beyond since 1934 - review - Matthew Shipp Quartet with Mat Walerian Michael Bisio Whit Dickey “Sonic Fiction” - by Bill Milkowski

"(...) travels from a tempestuous duet between piano and saxophone to a turbulent trio among saxophone, piano and bass, closing on a simpatico note with a flexible, free-boppish excursion by the full quartet."

Sonic Fiction reunites Shipp with his long-standing rhythm tandem of bassist Michael Bisio and drummer Whit Dickey, and adds Polish woodwind player Mat Walerian (a member of the Toxic trio with Shipp and bassist Willilam Parker). The mysterioso opener, "First Step", has Shipp feeding Walerian spikey chords to sail over on alto saxophone as Bisio bows and Dickey colors the proceedings with rubato flourishes. "Blues Addition" opens with more stirring, Ellington influenced solo piano by Shipp before he gives way to a conversational duet between Bisio's bass and Walerian's clarinet, which he plays with a keening kind of conviction.

Some of Shipp's most dynamic playing here can be heard on the tumultuous and incendiary "3 By 4", which also finds Walerian wailing in the altissimo range on alto. And the 12-minute closer travels from a tempestuous duet between piano and saxophone to a turbulent trio among saxophone, piano and bass, closing on a simpatico note with a flexible, free-boppish excursion by the full quartet.

With 85 albums under his belt as a leader or co-leader, Shipp has become an elder statesman on the free-jazz scene. His catalog is deep and his influence undeniable, just as Cecil Taylor and Don Pullen - firebrands from another era - had been a generation before.

read full review here :

http://www.downbeat.com/digitaledition/2018/DB1805/single_page_view/57.html

http://www.downbeat.com/