Evan Parker | Matthew Shipp | Rex, Wrecks & XXX | RogueArt Jazz

rogueart jazz

Evan Parker: tenor saxophone | Matthew Shipp: piano

Two (exceptional) musicians

two backgrounds, two approaches to music, two generations, an ocean between them: at the end, only one music, unique, outstanding, made of listening and respect of each other. The purpose is not to limit themselves to what they might have in common, but to expand the realm of possibility by assimilating in the moment what the other can bring. Even if everything is improvised, studio work of the first CD, leaving more time for reflection, is the perfect complement to the second CD, live, giving free rein to spontaneity.

All compositions by Evan Parker & Matthew Shipp except “Wrecks 1” by Matthew Shipp and “Wrecks 2” by Evan Parker

Recorded on September 6th 2011 (studio) and September 7th (live) by Giovanni La Rovere at Vortex, London, UK. Mixing & mastering: Sebastian Lexer. Liner notes: Steve Dalachinsky. Photographs: Caroline Forbes. Cover design: Max Schoendorff. Cover realisation: David Bourguignon. Producer: Michel Dorbon

«ROGUEART» is very grateful to the Vortex team for their help and their kindness during the recording

Tracklist: 1. Rex 1 (CD-1) (9:55) 2. Rex 2 (CD-1) (6:46) 3. Wrecks 1 (CD-1) (5:25) 4. Rex 3 (CD-1) (1:34) 5. Wrecks 2 (CD-1) (2:45) 6. Rex 4 (CD-1) (6:11) 7. Rex 5 (CD-1) (11:00) 8. Rex 6 (CD-1) (4:33) 9. XXX (CD-2) (41:47)

Evan Parker | Matthew Shipp | Rex, Wrecks & XXX | rogue art

Evan Parker | Vortex, London, UK, September 6, 2011 | Photo by Caroline Forbes

Evan Parker | Matthew Shipp | Rex, Wrecks & XXX | rogue art

Matthew Shipp | Vortex, London, UK, September 6, 2011 | Photo by Caroline Forbes

1. REX

free blown psyche mind / the soul / based ultimately upon physical processes / but & their own complex courses > being done > or some other muse > & forming hot it is hot though cooler could not the(s)e 2 be…based on earlier encounters i’m sitting here NOW standing NOW some time ago with TIME NOW GONE > backward > for time NOW has become somewhat blurred for me like NOW listening to this music with no recollection of ever listening to it as if yesterday were NOW & the fierceness intensity boldness of GONE for instance had just come NOW for the first time alive sprit(ed) been made NOW for the first time fresh as it might have been then somewhere in both their memories though listening NOW brings me always into the present into focus & the insistent speaking of reed & keys – the XXX that wrecks le REX makes me think is this like some MYTH or did these royalties of the MUSE(ic) meet speak encounter communicate relay before NOW ???? which they have /did – but no matter…! listen & obey the music’s whims directions to follow it to its conclusions NOW…like the moment i am NOW experiencing soft mild fierceness for always its state is that no matter how benign the sky may seem a storm is brewing or a brilliant sunset or moonrise or dynasty…a growth an expansion & contraction of what was is & is yet to be > all a part of NOW.. .X stasis Xplosive like the afterglow of sunset & those enduring snapshots that hold it together for as long as > those that hold this music will come away with & hold for as long as ever holds NOW for ever like a frozen smile & the beating of waves against a pier… & the sound of gulls at twilight as evening turns to night & the artifice of man lights up as the artifice of heaven darkens… what Xists is their individual & collective sound captured/recorded for time & NOW always here somewhere with every spin of the disc > each blink of the lens > the runners’ breaths > each perfect (in)stability …NOW… no turning BACK …& never GONE… it all continues from/rom ’til then… our memories all working differently yet collectively like this music always in sync never over indulgent… no need to re-examine what is always NOW just listen as the lights come on as the night comes on as daylight enters WHEN… & we go on & on … & ON… & we closer to NOW than ever before me closer to NOW as the sound becomes circuitous cliometric & circadian… you me we all abducted by the music’s heX which WRECKS our Xpectations of IF as the theory comes closer to being proven.. .so yes ENERGY does equal M(a)US(s)IC.

Evan Parker | Matthew Shipp | Rex, Wrecks & XXX | rogue art

Evan Parker & Matthew Shipp | London, UK, September 6, 2011 | Photo by Caroline Forbes

2. WRECKS

formless forming forms > informing/ a wedding of 2
…..from these affirming spontaneous compositions dive as combustion
(in) formation & formulation (non) conformity fatting brightly as tinkle
…..deep within the bell of the saxophone’s groa(w)n
………….uniformity close reliance alliance
still freedom in the MUSE-ic word color mirror dance
freedom from reform triumphant formidably stepping out
……………….returning to OriginPlace
……..comforting though not always comfortable

……………formmmformlessssformmmingg

from incredible instruments of sense & prodigy
true the heart & spirit union of humans tour deforce
………….on tour here on planet EARTH
this ethereal organic configuration of OUTwardflung lucid
sound of O(pe)NEness proof of what instant decisions create
…………..formatted before formula was borne
heavy wind bending notes forming free motions immutable signals
………………….meaning released through rivers of energy
……..extension of selves becoming surrounding edges of remembering
unique breakage of boundary – recognition – the very essence of clarity (un)melody
…..this harmonious sensation of unified merging experiences/COLLISIONS.

Evan Parker | Matthew Shipp | Rex, Wrecks & XXX | rogue art

Evan Parker & Matthew Shipp | London, UK, September 6, 2011 | Photo by Caroline Forbes

3. XXX

we all have IT:
done again (the benign yet shattering silence before a storm )
……craft shot zone deep red or incandescent blue
………..war documentary bashed aching ex-static consciousness
………………in my head the wind blowing for instance sky darkens cold snaps
………..the note parking on the outside line shattering the silence roundlingly

sure i know people but i know people the way i know people
..the sky sometimes seems to be darkening forever – then the storm finally arrives
……..lean back      but don’t lean back too much &   Rise as
the music rises & falls more like the beginning of something than an end.
…………………………….germination the upper side
………….chant as to sing from solidities to amorphous blues line
………………….fragmented     &     re-defined
……………low action plays diminished pianissimo
………a rhythmic dynamic reinventing the nascent as before gesturing hitched again
only the glisserials different & filtering a-boilin’ with fluid hesitation
…………& tremulous though not fearful more thoughtful rapture
……with pertinacity upward at times with perspicuity & perspicacity
…………awaiting explosion sensation     inseparability     ratification
……re-boost age(nts) of hearing / responding to discreetly indiscretions
what keen pinch work almost snazzadrople syllables upended granules
unwinds & playoffs heading toward the finish line the evidence of histories combined
…………….a second arrival at breakneck speed across the small expanse
………………………..within my own reworded miscellany
…………….as i listen to the sound of the music (the music in the words)
……………..& bring that sound closer to my heartbeat
………….as they re-invent their lives – the birthing of 2 masters 1 more time.

steve dalachinsky nyc 2013

Evan Parker | Matthew Shipp | Rex, Wrecks & XXX | rogue art

Matthew Shipp Evan Parker | London, UK, September 6, 2011 | Photo by Caroline Forbes

 

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One thought on “Evan Parker | Matthew Shipp | Rex, Wrecks & XXX | RogueArt Jazz

  1. Few barriers remain in jazz. Certainly not geographical or generational. Even genre does not present insurmountable obstacles. Were it needed, further confirmation arrives in the shape of a meeting between two distinctive stylists: American pianist Matthew Shipp and English saxophone iconoclast Evan Parker. Far from being their first encounter, the pair know each other well, having waxed Abbey Road Duos (Treader, 2007), collaborated during the saxophonist’s October 2010 residency at the Stone in New York City, and appeared in duet at the 2011 Vision Festival. What’s more piano/saxophone duets form a significant strand in the Shipp’s discography (Rob Brown, Roscoe Mitchell, Darius Jones, Ivo Perelman and Sabir Mateen being just some of his partners), and are far from unknown in Parker’s (Stan Tracey, Georg Graewe and Agusti Fernandez).

    No surprise then that Rex, Wrecks & XXX, comprising two discs, one recorded in the studio and the other live (at London’s Vortex) the following day, documents a spontaneous dialogue of the highest order. Deep listening underpins the congruency of pacing and dynamics, and even sometimes phrasing, making for a more harmonious pairing than the avant-garde reputations might suggest. Both Shipp and Parker work in a syntax of repeated motifs and sonic cells, which themselves prompt further rejoinders in a process of continual calibration. They don’t settle on any particular mode of expression for more than a few minutes, but at times become surprisingly reflective, as an air of abstract lyricism pervades both sessions, perhaps most prevalent in the concert setting.

    Shipp is the more likely to lock into nagging patterns which furnish the substructure, although he leavens the repetition with delicate prancing sweetness as well as unpredictable outbursts of thunderous tumult. Parker restricts himself to tenor saxophone throughout (his jazzier horn), although he reins in the split toned dissonance for which he is so well known, in favor of a mellow considered output. Of course there are passages where the Englishman’s guttural machine-gun delivery begets a rapidfire rhythmic response from Shipp, but they occur as occasional peaks not expansive plateaus. Unaccompanied features for each transpire both in the studio and live, and while they provide a welcome contrast, they do not reveal anything not already known. The eight studio cuts allow greater opportunity for concision and structure than the unbroken live set, notably on “Rex 5” which alternates piano and tenor, as they conjure a golden thread, each picking up where the other left off. The ghost of Thelonious Monk stalks proceedings when Parker touches on the interval of “Shuffle Boil” and Shipp responds almost in kind. Mercurial, playful discourse which erases boundaries, real or imagined.

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