Matthew Shipp Chamber Ensemble, The Gospel According to Matthew & Michael

There is no doubt in my mind that pianist-improv composer Matthew Shipp is on a roll these days. Perhaps it has to do with the inspiration of teaming up with bass-giant Michael Bisio, and/or any number of reasons, but he has been touching to gold like Midas everything he's been trying recently. The last outing To Duke (type that in the search box above for my posting) gave us a respectful inside-outside tribute that glowed with creativity.

Now we have a serious foray into improv new music chamber realms with the Matthew Shipp Chamber Ensemble and the album The Gospel According to Matthew & Michael (Relative Pitch 1035). The ensemble is indeed a platform for Shipp and Bisio but also Mat Maneri on viola, so that the Matthew perhaps refers to both? No matter, since it is the music at hand here that matters and it is extraordinarily varied, avant and thoughtful.

There are free threesomes of much inspiration, moments where Matthew, Michael or Mat take center stage in some solo spotlights, some ostinato-minimal tangents that are anything but predictable, and a great deal of true inspiration. The guiding vision of Shipp brings to bear at all times, yet there are individual contributions of a breakthrough sort at all times by all three.

We get throughout exploratory, probing music that does not content itself to repeat "free" vocabulary as much as it is determined to carve new ground. And it does. Bisio is a wonder here, with playing that demands your ear, but Michael comes forward with a pianistic pilgrimage into uncharted zones as well. Mat Maneri brings his own wide-ranging openness to the mix too, and his presence does much to help all three get to different places.

This set is one of the more ambitiously successful outings you are likely to hear this year, re-establishing Shipp as a master helmsman with one of the least predictable and most satisfyingly original pianistic sensibilities today. Bisio shows why he is at the top of the list for avant bassists with some pretty incredible work. And Maneri clocks in as a viola force of one.

This is the real thing, inventions as brilliant and original as they are "free."

Do not hesitate. Get this one! Bravo!

Stone Quartet Live at Vision Festival (Leandre-Campbell-Crispell-Maneri)

The Vision Festival in New York City has quite likely come to be the most important "progressive" jazz festival in the US today. It lasts for several days and includes some of the most important improvising musicians active. For the 2010 edition the festival was graced by the presence of the Stone Quartet. Their performance there is to be had on the Ayler Records CD Live at the Vision Festival (Ayler 124).

It's a free improv set with a most interesting lineup: the bassist Joelle Leandre, an excellent improviser who has been creating exciting avant music across the pond for many years; Roy Campbell, trumpet master with an exceptionally fertile sense of invention and precise timbral control; Marilyn Crispell, a truly innovative force for outside pianism; and Matt Maneri, a violist who graces any ensemble with intelligent improvisations that have a kind of conceptual rigor.

It's 41 minutes of excellent ensemble interaction from a group that one only hopes will gather together to play again many times in the future. The lack of a drummer helps the string section shine forth with clarity and transparency, though I would like to hear this group hold forth with an equally creative drummer-percussionist as well. There is a cohesive collective statement that you hear come into being before your very ears, so to speak. They embody the excitement of the now, the elation of spontaneous collective composition.

Hear this one! And hear this music live whenever you can. Each of these artists deserve your support. They are at the top of their art. And support small labels like Ayler records. They are gateways to our present-day musical world!