Perfect Sound Forever - Matthew Shipp about saxophone duets - Rob Brown, Roscoe Mitchell, David S. Ware, Sabir Mateen, Daniel Carter, Darius Jones, and Mat Walerian

"... I get excited by a sax player that has an authentic jazz phraseology and language ... consider myself a specialist in duets, especially with sax players … I have duets out with Roscoe Mitchell, David S. Ware, Sabir Mateen, Daniel Carter, Darius Jones, and Mat Walerian… "

"I consider that a specialty that I've honed over the years by doing it so much. It's a form of communication, a mode of communication that I think has not been explored a lot in jazz history, but I'm kind of become a specialist at it."

"I think there's an intimacy in that language that gets at a very specific thing that a lot of other jazz rhythm sections do not exactly get you in the way that format gets you to it."

I kind of consider myself a specialist in duets, especially with sax players, I have a whole history of that. I have a bunch with Rob Brown, alto player, and I've been doing a lot with Ivo Perlman, the tenor player. Plus, I have duets out with Roscoe Mitchell, David S. Ware, Sabir Mateen, Daniel Carter, Darius Jones, and Mat Walerian. It's a format that I kind of specialize in. I get excited by a sax player that has an authentic jazz phraseology and language. I fancy myself as really being able to kind of enter their soul and flesh out the details and give them a bed to bounce off of. I consider that a specialty that I've honed over the years by doing it so much. It's a form of communication, a mode of communication that I think has not been explored a lot in jazz history, but I'm kind of become a specialist at it. I think there's an intimacy in that language that gets at a very specific thing that a lot of other jazz rhythm sections do not exactly get you in the way that format gets you to it.

I would say if you want to answer that, listen to my records, the duets with sax players. It's hard to quantify in words. Sure. I know that like the whole idea of I'm trying to be a vortex and suck the sax into the core of your sound, and the way you generate kind of the rhythmic background without drums and bass in that setting, that just creates a different music. You know, it's a whole different kind of premise and a whole different music. Then if you have a rhythm section and you are taking your allotted role, or even if you're being rebellious against the allotted role of a piano in the rhythm section in a jazz quartet, it's just a different kind of universe that comes into being. I don't really know historically- I mean, growing up, I was actually just thinking about this the other day. Since I've done so many piano-sax duets, did I listen to them a lot?

I couldn't remember any albums. I remember having a record as a kid that was a sax-piano duet was a Braxton and Muhal Richard Abrams album [Duets 76]. I remember really liking it. There was a version of "Maple Leaf Rag" by Scott Joplin, which is really fun the way they do it. And I really liked that. There was one ballad on the album I really liked- it was a version of "Miss Ann" by Eric Dolphy on that album. But you know, I don't recall like thinking that they defined this super hyper rarified space. I liked those cuts and a few other things about the album, but I don't recall like listening to many piano-sax duets growing up. I just don't. I mean, again, that's the only record in my album collection (and I have quite a few albums) that I recall being a piano-sax duet.

So listening-wise, growing up, it was not a focus of mine but I think I ended up playing with the sax players. Like I played with Rob Brown before I moved to New York. I met him in Boston. And there was another sax player named Gary Joynes who lived in Boston at the time. And I used to play with him and we just started, we were playing every day and it just ended up being piano-sax duos. So, you know, it kind of was happenstance. That was a situation that I worked in a lot.

Matthew Shipp Perfect Sound Forever interview available here :

http://www.furious.com/perfect/matthewshipp2022.html

Greetings from the front row of Pavement! Based on past shows at King’s Theatre, I honestly thought my tickets were general admission/pit. Imagine the look on my face when I realized I’d be right up front, center stage for a gig I’d been looking forward to for a whole year! What a night! I don’t even know where to begin, it was all such an incredible time - complete with singalongs, alternating air guitar/air drumming, dancing in the aisles, and we even helped the kids sitting behind us sneak a paper airplane note on stage. The band was visibly having a blast (just look at Bob’s face - and you can see him holding the airplane in one pic), and seeing tons of old friends all under one roof made it even more amazing. I got some very long overdue hang time in with my old friend Sue, and thanks to the shrewd negotiations of my friend Kristina, we even scored a couple of setlists! A totally unforgettable night. #PerfectSoundForever (at Kings Theatre) https://www.instagram.com/p/CjORXlvO1cd/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Sometimes I feel like I'm the only person still buying CDs. Anyone? Anyone?? "You know you can stream Autobahn like a normal person... Or I think it was actually recently remastered..." "No,no - thanks, I'll hunt down the orig 1985 Elektra..." #perfectsoundforever

My Top Albums of 1992

For Perfect Sound Forever, I'm going year-by-year and making playlists that feature some of my favorite albums from each particular year. Along with each playlist, I will be posting my personal top 10 favorite albums from that year. For 1992 they are:

10) Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works 85-92 Complex electronic music that's truly ahead of it's time.

9) Jesus & Mary Chain - Honey's Dead Memorable, fuzzy, and catchy melodies that J&MC consistently delivers.

8) Matthew Sweet - Girlfriend Aptly named Matthew 'Sweet' makes approachable and adorable power pop filled with remarkable guitar solos. He's also from Athens, which is awesome.

7) 

6) The Flaming Lips - Hit to Death in the Future Head One of The Flaming Lips' heaviest records. After my first listen I had "ooo wub wub oooOOOooo" stuck in my head for weeks. Top 5 coming soon...

hahahahaha, girl when you grow up you'll laugh so hard at yourself right now. i promise.

well well well, look who made a surprise appearance and decided to be a fucking asshole about it.