Thesis (Matthew Shipp and Joe Morris album) explained

Thesis
Type:studio
Artist:Matthew Shipp
Cover:Thesis_Matthew_Shipp_Cover.jpeg
Released:1997
Recorded:January 23, 1997
Studio:Seltzer Sound, New York City
Genre:Jazz
Length:63:27
Label:hatOLOGY
Producer:Art Lange, Pia & Werner X. Uehlinger
Chronology:Matthew Shipp
Prev Title:By the Law of Music
Prev Year:1997
Next Title:The Multiplication Table
Next Year:1998

Thesis is an album by the American jazz pianist Matthew Shipp, featuring a duo with guitarist Joe Morris, recorded in 1997 and released on the Swiss hatOLOGY label. Shipp played previously with the Joe Morris Ensemble on the album Elsewhere, but Thesis represents their first collaboration with Shipp as a leader.

Reception

In his review for AllMusic, Thom Jurek states: "What exists between them is a fiery lyricism replete with staggering arpeggios, colorful digressions of dualistic chromaticism combined with the stagger-and-lurch method of self-discovery in the midst of heated contrapuntal improvisation."

In an article for the Boston Phoenix, Ed Hazell wrote that "the pair seem guided not by conscious design but by more mysterious and powerful forces. Which isn't to say there's not a high level of conscious artistry present in this darkly beautiful, even majestic, album."[1]

Track listing

All compositions by Matthew Shipp

  1. "Thesis" – 4:08
  2. "Fable" – 5:39
  3. "Simple Relations" – 3:41
  4. "Particle 1" – 3:43
  5. "The Wand" – 3:49
  6. "Action and Reaction" – 5:22
  7. "Center Of" – 5:33
  8. "The Turnpike" – 5:35
  9. "Form of Y" – 4:22
  10. "Broader Orders" – 8:01
  11. "Particle 2" – 4:41
  12. "The Middle Region" – 4:18
  13. "Our Journey" – 4:35

Personnel

Notes and References

  1. http://www.bostonphoenix.com/archive/music/97/10/23/joe_morris.html Joe Morris gets around by Ed Hazell