Over the years I have spent many pen scrawls, pencil swipes, and keystrokes trying to describe what it is about 'out' music that moves me so much.
Sometimes it's pretty easy, especially if you take the case of somebody like saxophone terrorist Peter Brotzmann. The man plays with so much force that it's downright frightening. I have to listen to my Brotzmann records all by my lonesome because most people who know me are offended at the animalistic sounds. I don't hold it against them.
On the quieter end of things, there are pianists such as Keith Jarrett, who can and does play quite 'out,' but it's more of a meandering, "How did I get here & how am I going to get back? Oh, I haven't listened to Edith Piaf in a long time"-kind of thing. It's an acquired taste, but it won't leave you feeling brutalized.
Matthew Shipp isn't exactly in the middle of these two extremes, but he does have a ways of dealing with both sides of the 'out' coin that make him a unique talent. As I've said many times before, having "big ears" gives an artist a big advantage, especially when it comes to incorporating disparate materials into the creative process. There have been times when Shipp has been a part of some truly spectacular visions of this sort. He was a member of David S. Ware's Go See The World ensemble (along with Susie Ibarra and William Parker) — and they took the pretty melody of "The Way We Were" apart. No, it did not go back together again.
Which brings me to 4D. This is a Shipp solo piano record that puts his wide range of ideas on display. The sequencing is interesting, with the program front-loaded with originals, followed by a handful of standards and other things. Taken as a whole, it gives the impression of these spinning ideas slamming into some well-known pieces of music. The result is a gentle sort of chaos.
The title track begins with a somewhat circular figure with chords cradling underneath. As Shipp moves and extends this theme of sorts, he pauses to add in a few more lyrical passages before indulging in some beautiful use of the booming lower register. The dissonance just blooms from down there. There are a few times during the initial selections where it seems as though Shipp is taking cues from the Thelonius Monk from the Beyond.
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