This relatively early trio session, with bassist
William Parker and drummer
Whit Dickey, was recorded live at Roulette in downtown Manhattan. The program is divided simply into two halves, "Prism I" and "Prism II," each roughly 30 minutes long. The first movement opens with a clarion two-chord call that sets off unremittingly dense free improv, yielding to a drum solo roughly two-thirds of the way through.
Shipp starts out solo on the second movement, which is as intense but a bit more spacious and varied. Overall,
Prism is not as memorable as
Shipp's later, more eclectic work, but it's still a significant statement.