Greatest Hits
Matthew Shipp
“Shipp… has the emotional and spiritual breadth of Thelonious Monk”. The Guardian, UK
Greatest Hits you ask? Considering Mr. Shipp's prodigious output, it was time to take stock of what gifts he's given us over the past decade. Think about it. How many jazz artists today have the depth of material and temerity to pull this off?
Matthew Shipp is a master of angles, dissecting notes at the atomic particle level to bring forth unexpected combination of notes that incomprehensibly make absolute sense if you leave your preconceptions behind. Mr. Shipp challenges, pokes and prods, yet somehow being known as a great free improviser, seems like an incomplete description. Perhaps, more accurately, he represents the purist expression of freedom for jazz.
His gift is to transcend the insistent repetition of modern life and create a transformative experience. Life is a complete term for Mr. Shipp, not limited to the world we know or the world we imagine but the universe with all its infinite possibilities. Music is his vehicle. Expressing the incongruous blending of beauty, ruthlessness, uncertainty, fear and hope that greets us everyday is his language. He is our poet laureate.
Mr. Shipp’s personal mission is exhaustive. Breaking rules so he is not bound by rules. So perhaps this gives us some insight as why the Penguin Guide to Jazz declared Mr Shipp as ''A major contemporary presence, (he) is one of the select group of current players and composers one would have to tag essential.''
Irascible, inquisitive, delicate and hard-hitting Mr. Shipp defines the iconoclast and defines the future in present form.
Credentials
1.Song: Gesture, Album: Pastoral Composure
Musicians: Matthew Shipp-Piano, Roy Campbell-Trumpet, Pocket Trumpet, Flugel Horn, William Parker-Bass, Gerald Cleaver-Drums, Year: 2000
2.Song: New Orbit, Album: New Orbit
Musicians: Matthew Shipp- Piano, Wadada Leo Smith-Trumpet, William Parker-Bass, Gerald Cleaver-Drums, Year: 2001
3.Song: Cohesion, Album: Equilibrium
Musicians: Matthew Shipp-Piano, William Parker-Bass, Gerald Cleaver-Drums, Khan Jamal-Vibes, Flam-Synths + Programming, Year: 2003
4.Song: Module, Album: One
Musician: Matthew Shipp- Piano, Year: 2005
5.Song: GNG, Album: Harmonic Disorder
Musicians: Matthew Shipp-Piano, Joe Morris-Bass, Whit Dickey-Drums, Year:2009
6.Song: New Id, Album: Harmony and Abyss
Musicians: Matthew Shipp- Piano & Synthesizer, William Parker- Bass, Flam-Synthesizer, Programming, Gerald Cleaver-Drums, Year: 2004
7.Song: 4D, Album: 4D
Musicians: Matthew Shipp- Piano, Year: 2010
8.Song: Stage 10, Album: Elastic Aspects
Musicians: Matthew Shipp-Piano, Michael Bisio-Bass, Whit Dickey-Drums, Year: 2012
9.Song: Nu-Bop, Album: Nu-Bop
Musicians: Matthew Shipp-Piano, William Parker-Bass, Daniel Carter-Saxophone & Flute, Guillermo E. Brown-Drums, Flam-Synths & Programming, Year: 2002
10.Song: Key Swing, Album: Piano Vortex
Musicians: Matthew Shipp-Piano, Joe Morris-Bass, Whit Dickey-Drums, Year: 2007
11.Song: Elastic Aspects, Album: Elastic Aspects
Artists: Matthew Shipp-Piano, Michael Bisio-Bass, Whit Dickey-Drums, Year: 2012
12.Song: Circular Temple #1, Album: Art of the Improviser
Artists: Matthew Shipp-Piano, Michael Bisio-Bass, Whit Dickey-Drums, Year: 2011
Tracklist
1 Gesture
2 New Orbit
3 Cohesion
4 Module
5 Gng
6 New Id
7 4D
8 Stage 10
9 Nu-Bop
10 Key Swing
11 Elastic Aspects
12 Circular Temple #1