After making at least 50 albums over the past three decades, pianist Matthew Shipp has decided that Piano Song is (probably) his final recording. So it’s tempting to hear it as a definitive statement, perhaps even a career summation. But really, every one of his records could be called definitive. His playing style is so inherently diverse and exploratory that he’s almost incapable of making narrow-sounding music. Even when he sticks to a specific theme or format, his full array of stylistic weapons eventually gets deployed.
There’s no explicit theme behind Piano Song. It’s simply strong, well-considered jazz, with Shipp’s piano leading a thorough dialogue with bassist Michael Bisio and drummer Newman Taylor Baker. In fact, the trio is so comfortably conversational it’s easy to miss how much territory they cover, especially in the beginning. Opening with a slow, somber solo piece, Shipp guides his partners through subtle, subdued tracks that earn names like “Blue Desert” and “Silence Of.”
But once the trio launches into “Flying Carpet,” with Shipp slamming out portentous chords and Baker pounding snare-bombs in response, Piano Song’s relentless variety becomes crystal clear. The contrast between those heavy sounds and the tune’s calmer passages is thrilling, and it’s one the band revisits in numerous variations throughout the album. On “Mind Space,” short stretches of quiet energy burst into raucous crescendos, while during “Gravity Point” furious action cleverly cascades into reflective pauses. The trio can run full-throttle for entire tracks, too: In “Microwave,” Shipp’s note clusters twist around Bisio’s stair-stepping bass without few gasps of breath.
The conversations in Piano Song feel ongoing, as if we’re merely getting glimpses of a longer, potentially-endless back and forth. All three players have an abundance of things to say, and though there’s sufficient space for each, no single recording could really encompass it all. That’s true of most of Shipp’s work, which makes his decision to leave the realm of recording disappointing but not entirely disheartening. He surely will keep conversing with his piano—he has no plans to stop playing or performing—and if the best venues for that might be something other than albums, he’s earned the right to make that call. Just absorbing his discography could take lifetimes as it is, and Piano Song is another entry that will reward listening for a long time.
