MATTHEW SHIPP TRIO

In an American sports magazine, pianist Matthew Shipp compared jazz with boxing and a game of chess. Typical associations because Shipp is not the sweet kind of musician: he displays a rather robust vision on free jazz. Shipp: ‘I remember my first exposure to the jazz avant-garde. I understood it before I understood bebop.’ His fame started as a member of the notorious David S. Ware Quartet in which he stood out with his rebellious intelligence. The collaboration with Parker and Cleaver he describes as ‘exploring the elasticity of the jazz language when straight ahead jazz elements morph organically into more modern forms.’ The New Yorker wrote: ‘Shipp (…) can balance his post-Cecil Taylor keyboard eruptions with pools of lyric calm, or, depending on his mood, not.’