Zero (album)
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| Studio album by Matthew Shipp | ||||
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Publication |
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| Label (s) | ESP disk | |||
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Format (s) |
2 CD |
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Title (number) |
11 + 1 |
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running time |
1:47:20 |
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Studio (s) |
Park West Studios, Brooklyn |
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Zero is a jazz album by Matthew Shipp . The recordings, taken in 2017 in Park West Studios, Brooklyn, were released on ESP disc on February 23, 2018 .
background
In an interview with Filipe Freitas of Jazz Trail, pianist / composer Matthew Shipp spoke about returning to his long-standing investigation into how spontaneous free improvisation develops. His thought process includes "the same metaphysical concepts that I have always asked - how do things come out of nowhere ?" Shipp's question is remarkably narrow in its relationship to the concepts of a physical universe that arises from "nothing", wrote Karl Ackermann, “Where nothing is the energy of empty space. Like physicists, Shipp expresses a fascination for what emerges from the abyss, but his creative process is not tied to any particular theory. "
After Spinal Syntax 1 & 2 and Symbol Systems (which he recorded in 1995), Songs (2002), One (2006) and Invisible Touch at Taktlos Zürich (2017), Zero was the pianist's sixth solo album. Six of the eleven titles contain the word zero in their names; they last between a little more than one and a half and a little more than six and a half minutes. Stylistically Shipp designed dynamic and harmonious juxtapositions and techniques. Even the first piece is very diverse: First Shipp goes into Glenn Gould's reading of the Goldberg Variations , then a Harold Arlen standard , followed by - according to Thom Jurek - gnarled improvisation, crystalline tonal explorations and mutating chord statements.
In addition to the music, the release includes a second CD with a one-hour lecture that the pianist gave at The Stone in New York City and in which he explains his musical creative process. Among other things he said. “ They told me at school that I had to do something with my life. Maybe that does something to your life. But I would like to do nothing. People say you'd be bored if you didn't do anything, but I can't find anything extremely meaningful with potential and satisfaction in and of itself. “In the last minutes of his lecture, he reads a few poems that give an insight into his approach.
Track list
- Matthew Shipp: Zer0 (ESP disk ESP 5022)
- CD 1
- Zero 5:31
- Abyss Before Zero 3:48
- Pole after Zero 3:19
- Piano panels 4:13
- Cosmic Sea 3:43
- Zero Skip and a Jump 2:11
- Zero Subtract from Jazz 6:35
- Blue Equation 5:14
- Pattern Emerge 2:46
- Ghost Pattern 1:39
- After Zero 5:12
- CD 2: Zero: A Lecture on Nothingness 1:02:58
reception
In the opinion of Karl Ackermann, who reviewed the album in All About Jazz , Zero was - according to Shipp's own description - not a concept album , although many of the song titles would indicate otherwise. Like the rest of his solo work, it's absolutely exciting. "Shipps' approach and style of play has long been unique and easy to identify, in large part due to the immaterial way he thinks about music and the way he doesn't." Zero would give us the definite assurance that Shipps Approach - which is based on both acumen and musical virtuosity - continues to require thoughtful listening, the author sums up; no concept is necessary.
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Also in All About Jazz, Mark Corroto said there has always been a connection between Thelonious Monk and Matthew Shipp, just not in the music they play. The connection between the two pianists is “the creation of a distinctive and personal language. Monk's melodic twists were alien to many of the listeners and were considered strange and unconventional. It may be surprising today to read reviews of Monk's music from back then, in which he describes how he played 'wrong notes'. Today we cherish the music that he wrote and perfected over many years as an inviolable genius, and it seems strange to us that many could not 'hear' it. ”Like Monk, Shipp created his own language, Corroto continues from what he would call a system of symbols . His way of playing the blues is often fragmented and leads away from the familiar. Each piece on the album has its own logic, and the listener can rely on the resolution of ideas.
S. Victor Aaron wrote in Something Else !, Shipp, who has long since returned exclusively to purely acoustic formats, has a path via the piano that belongs to him and only his, which shines through regardless of the surroundings. Therefore, Zero is “another one of those 'pure' Matthew Shipp releases with nothing between the depths of his soul and their ears. Although these pieces are generally short, he dedicates each note to an idea and packs several ideas into a song before the last note is played. "
Thom Jurek awarded the album four stars in Allmusic and wrote: “During his career, pianist / improviser / composer Matthew Shipp has questioned, examined and tested sound as a physical, spiritual and philosophical element. This is most common in his solo piano recordings, where spaces between improvisation and composition and the physicality of his instrument and the space around it interact and dissolve. "
Mike Shanley wrote in JazzTimes that when Shipp plays solo, he shows his artistic voice. "He may sometimes refer to great pianists who preceded him, like Andrew Hill , but he has cemented a signature approach that lives in the moment." The eleven tracks on Zero represent ideas that are different from one another, and not just for Variations of a single thought, says the author. Here Shipp reveals a sense of classical music (“Abyss Before Zero”), played ballads with just a shot of dissonance (“Cosmic Sea”) and offers some fast, paced lines (“Zero Skip and a Jump”).
John Garratt wrote in Pop Matters that Shipp's concept of nothing is much more abstract than just lying in bed all day. Matthew Shipp takes the idea of nothing, of absolute zero, very seriously. In his eyes, names for musical genres are meaningless. Several times in his lecture he states that the word “jazz” is meaningless to him. Music writers have called his jazz music for many years because it's pretty much a standard setting. If you've heard of Shipp before, you'll know that the Zero and Sonic Fiction albums are unique in the jazz piano field . Perhaps his fascination with nothingness and the concept of zero leads to a certain dynamic reluctance, notes Garratt. "Maybe he feels like he's been there, done that, and now it's time to turn to new tricks."
According to Bill Meyer (Dusted), the content of Shipp's game on Zero will be familiar to those who have heard it before. He works along a continuum between fluid phases and abrupt interruptions, using a stroke that also ranges from light and graceful glides across the right side of the keyboard to brutal memories of hitting a large wooden box. Shipp is pulling back the veil of time, says the author, he is revealing the jazz roots he referred to in the lecture and filtering them through the technical continuum mentioned above. The rich notes of “Cosmic Sea” are ellington-like , “but a distant rumble in the lower range underlies its clear melodic variations, and a restless refusal to let it be a sequence allows the blues to move within the powerful iterations of 'Pattern Emerge 'to materialize. ”Ultimately, it is about the process of understanding, be it by counting or hitting keys or through jazz.
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Karl Ackermann: Matthew Shipp: Zero. All About Jazz, February 6, 2018, accessed August 7, 2020 .
- ↑ a b Review of Thom Jurek's album at Allmusic (English). Retrieved August 1, 2020.
- ↑ a b Matthew Shipp: Zero. All About Jazz, April 16, 2018, accessed August 7, 2020 .
- ↑ a b 018 Belongs to Matthew Shipp. Pop Matters, April 26, 2018, accessed July 7, 2020 .
- ↑ a b Mike Shanley: Matthew Shipp: Zero (ESP-Disk ') / Matthew Shipp Quartet: Sonic Fiction (ESP-Disk'). JazzTimes, April 25, 2018, accessed August 7, 2020 .
- ↑ Matthew Shipp: Zer0 at Discogs
- ^ S. Victor Aaron: Matthew Shipp: Zero. Something Else, February 23, 2018, accessed August 7, 2020 .
- ^ Bill Meyer: Matthew Shipp: Zero. January 22, 2019, accessed on August 7, 2020 .