Thirsty Ear
2009
Harmonic Disorder
About This Album
Though pianist Matthew Shipp has been playing with drummer Whit Dickey and Joe Morris (as guitarist and bassist, and here it's as the latter) for years in different contexts, this piano trio has only come together as a unit over the last couple of years. The three first explored their possibilities on record in 2007 with the fine Piano Vortex album. This is a very different recording in many respects. The musicians have performed together often enough to really get to know one another in the nuanced balance of the trio format, and Shipp has obviously greatly considered its strengths in his writing and approach. There are a whopping 14 tunes on Harmonic Disorder. Shipp has taken on the notion of restraint as a method of expression here, and as a result, some more classic approaches to the piano trio format assert themselves -- but only so far. The obvious touchstones in his compositional approach are referenced in the work of two very different players: Thelonious Monk (whose influence can immediately be heard on the opening track, "GNG," though it is pervasive), and to a lesser extent Andrew Hill. "GNG" uses Monk's simple melodic idea for a single repetitive -- yet somewhat angular -- line as a method of takeoff.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,4,6,8,9,10 and 13)

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