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One
Matthew Shipp
One
Genres: Jazz, Pop
 
  •  Track Listings (11) - Disc #1

Matthew Shipp says so much without ever using a word. In "One", his latest re l e a s e — for Thirsty Ear's Blues Series, Shipp sends up a powerful entourage of solo acoustic — tracks. Where previous releases have been on a ...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: Matthew Shipp
Title: One
Members Wishing: 0
Total Copies: 0
Label: Thirsty Ear
Original Release Date: 1/1/2006
Re-Release Date: 1/31/2006
Genres: Jazz, Pop
Style: Avant Garde & Free Jazz
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 700435716629

Synopsis

Product Description
Matthew Shipp says so much without ever using a word. In "One", his latest re l e a s e
for Thirsty Ear's Blues Series, Shipp sends up a powerful entourage of solo acoustic
tracks. Where previous releases have been on a voyage through electronica and
hip- hop, this album comes full circle and presents a pure and intimate taste of
what Matthew Shipp Is all about. Him and his weapon, the piano.
"Even though I've been involved with
many types of projects, at the end of the
day I am a pianist and I have a need to
express my poetic imagination in a solo
session on the instrument."
- Matthew Shipp
There are no distractions or fillers
here. From Shipp's soul, to his hand's,
straight to your ear's, this re c o rd pulls
you into his roots. Close your eyes
and feel as if you are "One" with
Matthew's fingers, as they push you
up and down the explosive arsenal
that exists in his keys.

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CD Reviews

Solo Shipp!
David M. Madden | salt lake, utah United States | 11/10/2006
(4 out of 5 stars)

"At the 1998 Jazz awards, a fight broke out between Jazz Journalists Association president Howard Mandel and critic Stanley Crouch. Of all people, seemingly mild-mannered Matthew Shipp stepped in and called Crouch an "Uncle Tom" and a "loser" before security separated the two. As uncharacteristic as this might seem, Matthew Shipp is full of these types of personal and musical surprises -- and judging from One, he's just getting warmed up.



Shipp isn't the sort of artist who typically feels caged -- unless you add a "John" to the beginning of that phrase. Sans effects, electronics or collaborators, he opts for stark acoustic piano performances on One's twelve pieces. The results channel the souls of a variety of infamous performers and piano works from the past hundred years. For "Gamma Ray", Shipp plunks down his staccato theme and "wrong" notes with a Monk-style clumsy-genius attack, and riffs in-between with Oscar Peterson's speed and grace. In "The Encounter", he wanders around a murky pedal-down mire of pan-diatonics, nodding to Henry Cowell and George Winston, while "IEOU" marches full steam ahead in the lower register with all of Cecil Taylor's breakneck explosiveness. Closer "Module" opens with diatonic planing figures, echoing Chick Corea -- or perhaps Debussy. After the tense, rumbling climactic release, he fades out with the same gesture, then leaves the keyboard as abruptly as he arrived.



Though One wanders freely across the musical map, Shipp deliberately limits his palette, adding the descriptive "lovely" and the highly cherished "listenable" alongside "experimental". Extended techniques like tossing bouncing balls inside the sound board and fitting piano hammers with Malaysian coral make for intriguing sonic diversions, Shipp distinguishes himself here by only exploring only the avenues afforded by the piano's 88 keys -- and finding spectacular harmonic, contrapuntal and polyrhythmic textures within them. Surprisingly, there are very few spots where forty minutes of musical same-ness drags. Shipp keeps repetition to a minimum, emphasizing dynamic ebb and flow and forward motion while still expressing his "poetic" imagination.



One is an impressive addition to Shipp's canon. It belongs at the very top of his resume, alongside The Sorcerer Sessions, his work with DJ Spooky (Optometry) and his part-time gig as the Jazz Awards' Brawler in Residence.



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