While sometimes associated with legendary tenor saxist Ivo Perelman, the trio of drummer Jeff Cosgrove, bassist William Parker and pianist Matthew Shipp show what they can do on their own. They did a similar album of three songs that filled an hour’s worth of music a few years ago, and like the earlier session, this one is surprisingly accessible with nary a cacophonic self indulgence, rare for the genre.
The fifteen minute “Spherical” is an aptly title piece that hints at Thelonious Monk-styled bebop with Shipps spry and light touch riding a longboard over Cosgrove’s whitecaps of joyful stick work, and Parker bobbing through the traffic like a Neopolitan pedestrian weaving through the packed Via Nazionale. A nine minute “Last Steps, First” has Shipp with full fisted chords giving ectomorphic explorations with bass and piano alternating between digging a deep pocket and letting the lint fall out.
The thirty five minute extravaganza “October Nights Sky” is a collection of mosaic tiles that opens with contemplative ivories that has Shipp ranging from stark to expansive and explorative a la Lewis and Clark with Cosgrove changing the dynamics from a subterranean rumble to a volcanic mix of hard bop intricacies as Shipp gets in touch with his inner McCoy Tyner for some dashes and dots of chaos and lyricism. The tide rises and falls to rich proportions, held together by Parker’s north star of a bass, leading the team to a finality of still waters in which to rest.
Impressively lyrical, with a heart in the tradition and a head for the future. A rich mix of modern, mirth and a dash of mayhem.
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