Though pianist
Matthew Shipp has been playing with drummer
Whit Dickey and
Joe Morris (as guitarist and bassist, and here it's as the latter) for years in different contexts, this piano trio has only come together as a unit over the last couple of years. The three first explored their possibilities on record in 2007 with the fine
Piano Vortex album. This is a very different recording in many respects. The musicians have performed together often enough to really get to know one another in the nuanced balance of the trio format, and
Shipp has obviously greatly considered its strengths in his writing and approach. There are a whopping 14 tunes on
Harmonic Disorder.
Shipp has taken on the notion of restraint as a method of expression here, and as a result, some more classic approaches to the piano trio format assert themselves -- but only so far. The obvious touchstones in his compositional approach are referenced in the work of two very different players:
Thelonious Monk (whose influence can immediately be heard on the opening track, "GNG," though it is pervasive), and to a lesser extent
Andrew Hill. "GNG" uses
Monk's simple melodic idea for a single repetitive -- yet somewhat angular -- line as a method of takeoff.
Morris has really grown into his role as a bassist and his sense of intuition is as great as his time.
Shipp pushes his band to actually swing here, and the parts come together in a moving, finger-popping groove. This is followed by the pianist's wild reading of "There Will Be Another You," which is dense and somewhat free, but its melodic frame is ever present.