Matthew Shipp

Pianist Matthew Shipp entered the global jazz circuit in the late 1980s, distinguished by an immediately identifiable approach that fluidly merges free jazz, elliptical post-bop, and modern classical elements. During the early 1990s he held the piano chair in the David S. Ware Quartet, after which he began directing his own sessions and collaborating in duo formats with numerous artists. His first solo recording, Symbol Systems, appeared in 1995 alongside the quartet album Critical Mass. Numerous projects followed on Hat, such as the 2001 release Expansion, Power, Release, and on Thirsty Ear, notably Piano Vortex in 2007 and Piano Sutras in 2013. France’s Rogue Art imprint has also documented his work, issuing Rex, Wrecks & XXX with Evan Parker in 2013 and Our Lady of the Flowers in 2015. Beginning in 2016, Shipp performed and recorded with reedist Mat Walerian for ESP-Disk in groups called Uppercut and Jungle, each producing a Live at Okuden volume that year. The solo album Zero emerged in 2018. A collective featuring saxophonist Daniel Carter issued Welcome Adventure, Vol. 1 in 2020. The following year brought the trio recording Village Mothership and the solo set Codebreaker, both on Tao Forms. In 2022, Old Stories—a double-length duo project with saxophonist Chad Fowler—appeared together with Welcome Adventure, Vol. 2 and the trio album World Construct on ESP-Disk. The same trio reconvened for New Concepts in Piano Trio Jazz, released on ESP-Disk in 2024.

Born in 1960 and raised in Wilmington, Delaware, Shipp absorbed 1950s jazz recordings from an early age. Piano studies began at five, and by twelve he had chosen to concentrate on jazz. While performing Fender Rhodes in rock groups, he privately absorbed performances by an array of jazz musicians. His initial mentor, local resident Sunyata, encouraged wide-ranging interests beyond music. Later instruction came from Robert “Boisey” Lawrey, who had taught Clifford Brown, as well as classical piano and bass clarinet for school ensembles. After one year at the University of Delaware, Shipp studied briefly with Dennis Sandole before attending the New England Conservatory of Music for two years.

Relocating to N.Y.C. in 1984, he soon encountered bassist William Parker and other musicians; by 1989 both were working with tenor saxophonist Ware. Shipp’s recording debut occurred earlier in a duo with altoist Rob Brown on Sonic Explorations, captured in November 1987 and February 1988. Around 1990 he married singer Delia Scaife. He subsequently led a trio featuring Parker alongside drummers Whit Dickey and Susie Ibarra. Additional sessions have appeared on FMP, No More, Eremite, Thirsty Ear, and Silkheart. In 2000 Shipp assumed curatorial duties for Thirsty Ear’s Blue Series, which included his own projects and those by William Parker, Tim Berne, Roy Campbell, Craig Taborn, Spring Heel Jack, and Mat Maneri. Nu Bop, an excursion into conventional jazz forms, surfaced in 2001, followed in 2003 by Equilibrium. Harmony and Abyss, an examination of repetitive melodic and harmonic patterns, arrived in 2004. One was released in January 2006, with Piano Vortex appearing the next year.

Thirsty Ear issued the solo-piano album 4D early in 2010. Other early-twenty-first-century releases encompassed the two-disc solo recital Creation Out of Nothing: Live in Moscow on SoLyd Records and the trio set Night Logic with Joe Morris and former Sun Ra saxophonist Marshall Allen on Rogue Art. Shipp maintained momentum in 2011 with the double-CD Art of the Improviser, documenting two live contexts—one solo, one with bassist Michael Bisio and drummer Whit Dickey—then released the duo Cosmic Lieder with alto saxophonist Darius Jones on AUM Fidelity that spring. The trio with Bisio and Dickey reconvened for Elastic Aspects in 2012. That year also initiated an extensive partnership with saxophonist Ivo Perelman; 2013 yielded further duo, trio, and quartet encounters issued by Leo Records under the titles The Gift, The Clairvoyant, The Foreign Legion, A Violent Dose of Anything, Enigma, The Art of the Duet, Vol. 1, The Edge, and Serendipity. Autumn 2013 brought the solo outing Piano Sutras on Thirsty Ear, the label retrospective Greatest Hits, and the duet Fataka 2 with saxophonist John Butcher.

A steady schedule of releases and performances continued through 2014. The trio date The Roots of Things with Dickey and Bisio surfaced in February, followed by two additional Perelman collaborations: the quartet-backed The Other Edge in March and the collective Book of Sound, also in March, again involving Perelman, Shipp, and Parker. Lithuania’s No Business label presented the solo Symbol Systems in May; AUM Fidelity released the second installment of the Jones-Shipp “Cosmic Lieder” series, The Darkseid Recital, in August; and Thirsty Ear offered the solo I’ve Been to Many Places in September. Rogue Art compiled four earlier performances that year—Piano (2008), the duet Rex, Wrecks & XXX with Evan Parker (2013), Right Hemisphere with Brown, Dickey, and Morris (2008), and Declared Enemy: Salute to the 100001 Stars: A Tribute to Jean Genet with Parker, Gerald Cleaver, Sabir Mateen, and Denis Lavant (2006).

Two further Rogue Art titles appeared the next year: the decade-later Genet tribute Our Lady of the Flowers (without Lavant) and the widely discussed trio album To Duke. Additional 2015 duos comprised Live at Okuden: The Uppercut with Polish reed and woodwind master Mat Walerian on ESP-Disk and Callas with Perelman on Leo. Partnerships with both musicians generated thirteen more recordings across 2016 and 2017. Duo projects with Perelman included Complementary Colors and Corpo, while Butterfly Whispers added Dickey to form a trio. ESP-Disk issued the 2012 performance Live at Okuden: Jungle featuring Walerian and Hamid Drake. Early 2017 saw the trio album Piano Song with Michael Bisio and drummer Newman Taylor Baker. Produced by Peter Gordon, the session marked Shipp’s final recording for Thirsty Ear, though he continued to curate its Blue Series. An ESP-Disk trio date with Walerian and Parker, Toxic: This Is Beautiful Because We Are Beautiful People, followed in late spring.

Three albums appeared in early 2018: the Rogue Art duo Accelerated Projection with Roscoe Mitchell in January, then the simultaneous ESP-Disk releases Sonic Fiction, a quartet with Walerian, Bisio, and Dickey, and the solo Zero in February. Late that year Rogue Art presented the duo reunion Conference of the Mat/ts with Maneri. Three additional titles emerged on the label in 2019: All Things Are with Bisio and Newman Taylor Baker, Symbolic Reality with Maneri and William Parker, and the duo What If? with trumpeter Nate Wooley.

Although touring ceased during the COVID-19 pandemic, eight archival projects reached the public, among them the duo Amalgam with Perelman, Welcome Adventure, Vol. 1 with Daniel Carter, Cleaver, and Parker, and two solo piano collections, The Piano Equation and the four-movement suite The Reward. Okuden Quartet (Walerian, Hamid Drake, Parker, and Shipp) released Every Dog Has Its Day But It Doesn't Matter Because Fat Cat Is Getting Fatter.

Activity remained high in 2021. Shipp resumed touring and joined William Parker on Francisco Mela’s Music Frees Our Souls, Vol. 1. Two further Rogue Art duos appeared—Leonine Aspects with Evan Parker and Re-Union with William Parker—while the label also documented Paul Dunmall’s quartet featuring Shipp, Gerald Cleaver, and Joe Morris on The Bright Awakening. July brought the duo project Reels with Dickey. October saw Tao Forms issue Village Mothership, a trio with Dickey and Parker, and November delivered the solo Codebreaker. The following year, saxophonist Chad Fowler collaborated on the double-length improvised set Old Stories for Mahakala Music. Shipp also revisited the 577 Records collective with Carter, Parker, and Cleaver for Welcome Adventure, Vol. 2. In June the double-length World Construct, his fifth ESP-Disk album, appeared with bassist Michael Bisio and drummer/percussionist Newman Taylor Baker. The trio reassembled the next year to record New Concepts in Piano Trio Jazz, which captured heightened group cohesion and was released on ESP-Disk in April 2024.