Matthew Shipp, Joe Morris - Broken Partials

Matthew Shipp, Joe Morris
Broken Partials

Label: NotTwo, 2011
Catalogue No: MW 851-2
Format: CD

Tracks:

1. Broken Partials - One [08:57]
2. Broken Partials - Rwo [09:35]
3. Broken Partials - Three [09:47]
4. Broken Partials - Four [07:40]
5. Broken Partials - Five [04:41]
6. Broken Partials - Six [06:07]
7. Broken Partials - Seven [05:33]
8. Broken Partials - Eight [09:31]

Line-up:

Matthew Shipp - piano
Joe Morris - bass

Recorded:

February 17, 2010 At Roulette Studio, NYC

Engineer: Matthew Mehlan
Mixed & Mastered By Rafał Drewniany, DTS Studio
Produced By Marek Winiarski
Liner Notes By Steve Dalachinsky
Cover Art & Design By Yuko Otomo

Review:

This dynamic duo features Matt Shipp on piano and Joe Morris on contrabass. Recorded at the Roulette studio in February of 2010. This is the third disc that this particular duo has been involved with, although the other ones featured Joe Morris on guitar. Since Mr. Morris has been switching off between bass and guitar, he has played bass with Matt in both trio and quartet dates. Joe's acoustic bass playing continues to grow stronger all the time so he sounds superb and spirited spinning those notes underneath Matt's layers of cascading waves. In the first piece, Joe is quite a bit busier than Matt, yet the balance is consistently strong. There is a strong dialogue going on, like a familiar conversation between two old friends. Joe switches to bowed bass and kicks off the second part by himself. This piece moves more slowly and the currents are darker and more murky. Joe takes a fine long bass solo during the first half of part three which Matt follows with an equally thoughtful solo piano interlude. Both are solos somber and carefully constructed. Matt often seems to be developing a few different themes, building different layers or currents as the tide rolls in and then out. It sounds as though a story is being told as different connected scenes unfold and evolve into other scenes. There are quite a few moments here that are stunning, lovely or transcendent. I got a promo of this disc in June and have been playing it often ever since. It still blows me away. This is an incredible duo whose time has come. The poetic liner notes by Steve Dalachinsky and stark cover art by Steve's wife Yuko Otomo also fit this disc perfectly. (Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery)

About the artists:

Matthew Shipp was born December 7, 1960 in Wilmington, Delaware. He started piano at 5 years old with the regular piano lessons most kids have experienced. He fell in love with jazz at 12 years old. After moving to New York in 1984 he quickly became one of the leading lights in the New York jazz scene. He was a sideman in the David S. Ware quartet and also for Roscoe Mitchell’s Note Factory before making the decision to concentrate on his own music.

Mr Shipp has reached the holy grail of jazz in that he possesses a unique style on his instrument that is all of his own- and he’s one of the few in jazz that can say so. Mr. Shipp has recorded a lot of albums with many labels but his 2 most enduring relationships have been with two labels. In the 1990s he recorded a number of chamber jazz cds with Hatology, a group of cds that charted a new course for jazz that, to this day, the jazz world has not realized. In the 2000s Mr Shipp has been curator and director of the label Thirsty Ear’s “Blue Series” and has also recorded for them. In this collection of recordings he has generated a whole body of work that is visionary, far reaching and many faceted .

Matthew Shipp is truly one of the leading lights of a new generation of jazz giants.

*****

Joe Morris is an uncompromisingly original guitarist following in the tradition of other conceptual free jazz guitar innovators like Derek Bailey, Sonny Sharrock, Eugene Chadbourne, and James Ulmer. However, Morris has developed his own unique approach to guitar playing, composition, and improvisation that is unlike his peers. He usually incorporates a clean tone of the bebop lineage for his single-note-driven improvisations. His recordings are widely eclectic, ranging from solo performances, traditional acoustic settings, and fusion dates to various groups with interesting instrumentation.

Morris spent his formative years in New Haven, CT, where he taught himself the guitar and immersed himself in a variety of progressive musical styles. He spent numerous weekends attending free symphonic productions at nearby Yale University, which included performances of artists as diverse as Karlheinz Stockhausen, Charles Ives, and Duke Ellington. Attention to local AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians) members Leo Smith and George Lewis and a world music radio show presented by percussionist Gerry Hemingway also helped Morris develop his wide musical palette. In 1975, Morris moved to Boston, where his unique approach was not initially accepted in the then-prevalent modal jazz scene. Despite this temporary setback, and some time spent playing guitar in Europe, he developed a pivotal collaborative relationship with multi-instrumentalist Lowell Davidson, whose unique sound explorations inspired him to further develop his own original approach to music-making.

In 1981 Morris began his own label, Riti Records (named after an African single-stringed folk instrument), to document his prolific musical output. During the '90s he arguably became the most widely heralded free jazz guitarist in jazz, while recording with many avant-garde luminaries. Morris became the first guitarist to lead a recording session for the prestigious Black Saint/Soul Note Records with 1994's Symbolic Gesture, and he has continued to record extensively for many outstanding labels such as ECM, Hat Hut, Leo, Incus, Okka Disk, Homestead, About Time, Knitting Factory Works, Not Two Records, No More Records, AUM Fidelity, and Omnitone. Also, Morris has given lectures and workshops for Harvard University, the New England Conservatory, the Berklee College of Music, and European universities.