World Construct

Album review

World Construct is the fourth album by Matthew Shipp's trio with bassist Michael Bisio and drummer Newman Taylor Baker. Together since 2015, they are his longest continuous trio. Recorded in Brooklyn on a single day in 2021, it is a different portrait of Shipp than we're used to. For starters, ten of these 11 selections range from just under two minutes to eight and a half. While all feature improvisation, there is a new formalism in structure that reflects near classical discipline in Shipp's approach. Far from stilted in expression, this music is as colorful as it is intellectually and emotionally rigorous. Opener "Tangible" commences with a Latin groove; Shipp leads through a vampy finger-popping exercise in dexterous harmonic invention, but at only 1:46, it ends just as they settle in. "Sustained Construct" follows as a thoughtful, elliptical solo ballad, with lean chords punctuated by sustained single notes. A lilting melody emerges, appended only by the sound of pedals, but it doesn't conclude so much as end abruptly. Shipp introduces "Spine" with a blues vamp but lets it slip as Baker and Bisio pick up the frame, then free it. Shipp solos while listening intently; he places blocky chords and lower-middle-register ostinatos inside their winding improvisation. Bisio and Baker introduce "Jazz Posture" with a flurry of rumbling notes and clattering beats. It sounds free initially, but the bassist's spirited sprint up and down the neck opens the door for Shipp, who delivers a post-bop vamp and an explosive solo erected from scales, and then lifts off in fleet, pointillistic improvisation amid shifting double-, triple-, and even quadruple-time acceleration from his rhythm section. Hinge track "Beyond Understanding" is spectral and nearly formless; Bisio plays a restrained arco as Baker answers Shipp's shapes and rings the bells on his cymbals. Later, "A Mysterious State" is a showcase for complex, intuitive communication. Shipp's circular chord voicings expand as Baker rides the snare with propulsive, prophesying force; Bisio urges him on before engaging in a contrapuntal dialogue with Shipp, who revels in his own rhythmic approach. The pianist introduces the closing title track solo. Minimal chords played in elliptical, striated patterns resemble Bartók's Mikrokosmos compositions momentarily, flirting with folk melody and lithe dissonance as the rhythm section counters these notions in wide, thrumming arcs. The pianist shifts the focus of their concentration toward flowing post-bop before they engage in startlingly complex, compellingly rhythmic group improvisation. Together, they offer a balanced yet incendiary interplay in a plethora of colors and textures amid drama, tension, and release. World Construct does showcase the jazz world Shipp has erected over these past three decades, but it also points to an entirely new one that is rife with possibilities for piano trio.
© Thom Jurek /TiVo