New Concepts in Piano Trio Jazz

Album review

Coming off the triumph of their 2022 set World Construct, Matthew Shipp Trio further elevate their group communication and collective vision on the surprisingly un-hyperbolically titled New Concepts in Piano Trio Jazz. This long-running iteration of Shipp's trio includes Michael Bisio on bass and Newman Taylor Baker on drums, locked in with each other's playing in a way that goes beyond the groove of familiarity into a kind of interplay that pushes each individual further. The eight pieces here (tracked on August 2, 2023, at Park West Studios in Brooklyn) balance improvisation and composition in a way that erases the line between the two. This is especially true of moments like "The Function," a song led by Bisio's walking bass line that at first suggests a traditional jazz saunter, slowly introducing Shipp's clustered chords and Baker's spare percussion before growing into a rolling mass of unmapped expression as the tune builds over its seven minutes. "Non Circle" is similarly striking, starting out somewhat conversationally but reaching a symbiotic thrum that all three players hold masterfully for the duration of the piece. In lesser hands, a performance so driving might devolve into the instrumental equivalent of everyone shouting at the top of their lungs at once, but the trio maintains a deeper dynamic that's perfectly dialed in. A few shorter pieces follow: the somber and minimal "Tone IQ," the bass-focused "Brain System," and the Shipp solo on the piano-only "Brain Work." New Concepts concludes with the nearly 12-minute "Coherent System," a journey through melancholy, disenchantment, and urgency that feels like a beautiful storm and continues the same controlled simmer that the trio mints throughout this profound album.

© Fred Thomas /TiVo