Good & Evil Sessions

Good and Evil | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 19, 2003)
• Original Release Date: 2003
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Thirsty Ear
• ASIN: B00009B8DH
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #433,402 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All good, no evil, May 22, 2008

By 

TSK - See all my reviews

This review is from: Good & Evil Sessions (Audio CD)

Pray tell how did this masterpiece get but one review, from "a customer," apparently quoting Robert Christgau, former frequently annoying Village Voice elder statesman, whose connection with Matthew Shipp is leaky at best? I don't know, but I can tell you this: this record is as good, maybe better, than Shipp's other nu-bop (or whatever you like to call them) masterpieces, the ones with Flam doing the electronics. This disc is also distinguished by its brassily funky front line, and the trombonists are Alex Lodico and Josh Roseman (the latter certainly a name). According to the Thirsty Ear site (I have this from iTunes, where no info is supplied but it's offered for under $9, and the sound is quite good), Shipp plays only a Korg keyboard here, and I believe he's never sounded better. Killer writing all the way through, utterly infectious, absolutely not to be missed. Wait, I can guess why this was missed by Amazon's Shipp reviewers: it's listed under Good and Evil, which is about as obscure as you can get; a Blue Series Continuum search won't even bring it up. As for the electronics wizards here, according to their MySpace page, Good and Evil are Danny Blume and Chris Castagno, not Chris Kelly. And as for Christgau's contentions (if indeed they're his) that acid jazz is garbage and this "body groove" doesn't swing, wrong on both counts, dude.

3 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Christagau's review informs us, September 10, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Good & Evil Sessions (Audio CD)

The latest Matthew Shipp- William Parker collaboration... no drummer. All beats electronic, generated by Brooklyn production duo Danny Blume and Chris Kelly, who relax into patterns that leave room for Parker to bend his bass toward an equivalent of the body groove that jazz folk associate with swing. Only this groove doesn't swing-it's more like techno that realized acid jazz was garbage and went back home to mama. Shipp riffs, hooks, and decorates, leaving theme and cognitively dissonant variation to name trumpeter Roy Campbell and two trombonists. Not deep, not intense.