Equilibrium

Matthew Shipp

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 21, 2003)
• Original Release Date: 2003
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Thirsty Ear
• ASIN: B00007L7LX
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #123,667 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Delaware-born pianist Matthew Shipp has a rare gift for taking the jazz traditions of the past and translating them into the aural lingua franca of today's popular idioms. On this CD, his fourth in his label's so-called Blue Series, Shipp, along with bassist William Parker, drummer Gerald Cleaver, vibraphonist Khan Jamal, and synth-programmer Flam, brilliantly melds the aural imagery of Andrew Hill's '60s Blue Note classic Judgment! with contemporary electronica effects. Shipp's sound, which ingeniously blends Duke Ellington, Cecil Taylor, and McCoy Tyner, is elegantly anchored by Jamal's shimmering vibes. That floating kind of dreamtime is aurally illustrated on the title track, "Nebula Theory," and "Nu Matrix." The byte-size backbeats on "Vamp to Vibe" and "The Root" never get in the way of the swing, and "The Key," the most "straight-ahead" tune on the CD, reveals the logic and lyricism of Shipp's improvisations. This recording offers a recipe for jazz-based music that speaks to our times. "We are continuing to move into the future, exploring beat elements with modern jazz," Shipp writes in the liner notes. "Ultimately, the goal of this album is to take your mind on a trip." --Eugene Holley Jr.

Product Description

Hot off the success of last years #1 CMJ Jazz record Nu Bop , Matthew went back into the studios to produce and record his most monumental recording yet, Equilibrium . Bringing together all the aspects of his previous recordings, Matthew has taken his concept to the next level with an exquisitely seamless mix of beats, hip hop, free jazz, and electronic music. What began with Nu Bop , Shipp has now achieved in Equilibrium


The first of three major Shipp recordings in 2003, this album stands to break through the jazz barrier once again, as will two collaborative recordings - one with hip-hop supergroup Antipop Consortium, and the other being an ensemble production with rapper El-P.


For more than a decade, Shipp has broken barriers and genre with his original style. In Equilibrium , he continues to challenge the limits and preconceptions of jazz with this explosive, beats-driven modern jazz recording.


the band:
Bassist William Parker takes the cue form Nu Bop and delivers some of his most stylistic playing yet. Drummer-extraordinaire Gerald Cleaver lays down delicious beats over Chris Flam s lucid/liquid synth programming, and vibes-man Khan Jamal creates warm, rich resonating tones - all this sewn seamlessly together through Matthew s unmistakably unique piano styling...


in matt s own words:
My new and fourth Blue Series record Equilibrium is a synthesis of what I've learned from all my other Blue Series albums. We are continuing to move into the future, exploring beat elements with modern jazz. But, I am also bringing to bear on this project, the goals I had on New Orbit of developing a jazz ambient music and my original goals on Pastoral Composure of exploring the elasticity of the jazz language when straight ahead jazz elements morph organically into more modern forms.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a classic?, April 28, 2003

By	S. Bush (Austin, Texas USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I love jazz, although sadly, I often think of it as an historical art form. Shame on me, I suppose - I know there's a lot of vibrant, creative stuff out there! Matthew Shipp's new disc is certainly a fine testament to that. Recently, I've been throwing Equilibrium in the CD changer, along with The Shape of Jazz to Come, and Out to Lunch, and it stands up just fine amidst that esteemed company. If you enjoy that sort of challenging-yet-accessible jazz, I'm certain there are many things you will appreciate about this wonderful release.

The musicianship is uniformly excellent, the compositions really reward deep listening, but it is also melodic and rhythmic enough to listen to while driving about town on a beautiful spring day!

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Matthew Shipp's genius on full display here, February 1, 2003

By	Jan P. Dennis "Longboard jazzer" (Monument, CO USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Are we on the verge of a jazz renaissance? Let's look at the evidence. One of the top albums of 2002, Come Away with Me by Norah Jones, was a jazz album (not to purists, perhaps, but to these ears it was). Jacky Terrasson's Smile, released in January of 2003, one of the finer statements by a neo-mainstreamer, is finding a wide audience. Bad Plus, the remarkable group comprising Ethan Iverson (piano), Reid Anderson (bass), and David King (drums) is radically reconfiguring the piano trio, with unexpected acceptance. John Scofield has cut perhaps his finest record to date, Oh. Amazingly, even the avant-garde seems to be flourishing. William Parker's Raining on the Moon was on many 2002 top ten jazz lists, as was David Ware's Freedom Suite, and both can be found at many retail record outlets..

That brings us to Matthew Shipp, he of the monster pianistic chops, proprietor of the heady Thirsty Ear Blue Series label, and purveyor of "ambient jazz," among other sly moves to drag the music into the 21st century. His latest, Equilibrium, strikes me as his most successful outing to date. It was a brilliant move recruiting Kahn Jamal, the grey-beard Philly vibes-meister, for this date. Enjoying an Indian Summer renaissance as player, bandleader, and elder-statesman/jazz-ambassador, Jamal brings a savvy understanding of jazz edginess combined with a deep-delved African sensibility to these proceedings, just as he did to Roy Campbell's outstanding recent release, It's Krunch Time. Combine these two with William Parker (does anyone get a weightier sound from acoustic bass?) and Gerald Cleaver, a name new to me, but a drummer who perfectly fits into these giddy surroundings, and you've got a breathtakingly lively outfit.

Highlights include "The Key," a seemingly straight-ahead number, but salted with tricky time signatures, unaccountably beguiling melodicism, and revelatory vibes-playing from Jamal. Significantly, the leader lays out on this cut, displaying a remarkable yet apt democracy in his approach. "Vamp to Vibe," a deceptively simple pianistic figure over which Kahn Jamal performs his mallet magic, sticks in the brain like a burr on a sock. "Cohesion" features an impossibly catchy melodic/rhythmic mélange, including, to these ears, Shipp's finest piano playing on record, some absolutely mesmeric vibes passages from Jamal, and way mysterioso percussive synth stylings. "The Root," another vehicle primarily for Kahn Jamal, with its insistent rhythmic pulse, also makes a deep impression.

It took me longer to warm up to the "ambient jazz" selections, "Nebula Theory" and "Nu Matrix," with their concern for sonic soundscapes over melody and rhythm, but once the vibe clarified, it all made sense. Perhaps a bridge into these numbers is "World of Blue Glass," with its faux-ambient sensibility melded to some serious soloing by Shipp.

The avant-garde generally, and Shipp in particular, haven't always made records that can be easily accessed by the general listening public. This record is the exception. Don't miss it.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars jazztronica coming of age, June 12, 2003

By	"treestamp" (USA) - See all my reviews

According to the liner notes, this is the fourth CD of Shipp's Blue Series, a continuation of his experiment with jazz as a contemporary recording art, and its goal is to "take your mind on a trip." Whether this album meets that goal, given its intended experimental nature, is a very subjective matter, and while I personally think it does succeed at that, I also think -- experiments aside -- there's some very worthwhile, inventive music on this disc that should get more attention from jazz and other musicians than it'll probably get (I say that as a "jazz and other" musician myself).

For the casual listener accustomed to music geared to a commercial market, I suspect this album would seem inconsistent at best. But for those willing to be taken on Shipp's idea of a head trip, there's more reward than first hinted at. First of all, Shipp is in control of his game here. This CD's blending of jazz and electronic/ambient forms is the beneficiary of previous experimentation and Shipp has learned well how to use both jazz and electronica elements as he sees fit rather than being at their mercy. Being in control of one's tools rather than being control by the tools is the difference between good music (acoustic, electronic or anything in between) and soulless dribble. This refinement of his craft puts Shipp in a leading position in the "jazztronica" field at the present, and because of the all too often mediocre and sometimes downright fraudulent attempts at jazztronica by other jazz artists (Dave Douglas' overhyped, contemptible Freak In is a good, recent example), other musicians currently exploring electronica could certainly learn something from his example.

Compositionally, Shipp is working within a context rather than collecting individual pieces (this explains why there's only nine tracks of music totaling slightly more than 40 minutes). When listened to in context, the music spirals along in a stream evoking a diversity of shifting moods and depths, from ambiance setting title track to the darkly groovin' "Vamp to Vibe" to the spacey music caverns of "Nebula Theory" to the jazzy trip-hop meld "Cohesion" to the subtly askew "World of Blue Glass." A midpoint is marked by the unsettlingly incomplete "Portal," and three more tracks -- "The Roots," an edgy trip-hop piece featuring vibist Khan Jamal, the swinging and slightly creepy "The Key "(also featuring Jamal) and the free-formed, FX'd "Nu Matrix" -- take this exploratory music adventure to its trippy, ambient finish.

I suspect the contextual aspect will keep this album from being very accessible for some. Also, I'm sure some "purists" will be immediately turned off by its experimental quality and electronica elements. Such people I doubt will not give this album a beneficial second (or further) listening that it really deserves. I found repeated listening helped get past the contextual and experimental aspects to discover some rather impressive qualities of Shipp's musicianship. One strength Shipp clearly possesses is the ability to bring mood and depth to his music despite its experimental nature. In addition to being obviously cerebral, the music as a haunting, mistakably spiritual quality not unlike someone like John Coltrane. Even though I wouldn't yet call Shipp a genius as I would Coltrane, he definitely carries that spiritual depth throughout his diverse compositions, evidence that Shipp's craft is as passionate and personal as it is cerebral and inventive. Also to his credit, as this project's captain, Shipp takes up leadership and makes his presence known without crowding the other members of his ensemble, a mark of a mature and attentive musician. Each member is thus able to give their own distinctive voice to the creative whole and help make Shipp's compositions that much richer. Once these strengths of this recording are recognized, then most of the tracks no longer seem as dependent on their context and can stand alone better as individual pieces. All in all, these positive aspects of this album, combined with its explorations of further possibilities in bringing jazz into the 21th century, make this album very meaningful, relevant and enjoyable.