A review of Black Mystery School Pianists and other Writings
Every monumental, elegant and elliptical arc of a melodic line which ripples through his music, every ingenious harmonic invention, every dark and light rumble of a foot-stomping, dancing bassline – as unique as one that might have come from Thelonious Monk, Herbie Nichols or Cecil Taylor – is yet, exclusive to Matthew Shipp… At every turn, every moment of his music flows from future past, all inexorably and rhythmically carefully sculpted into one of what will be the definitive pillars of Mr Shipp’s Black Mystery School Pianists.
Twenty-two works form a carefully-crafted book between green hued covers. The photograph of a young Matthew Shipp might send a spiritual message and that is also veritas. Spirituality and temporality from the motherlode of Mother Africa and beyond its shores – via Europe – to the United States of America where slave ships brought the first protagonists in what George Russell once called The African Game, and then began to draw craftsmen [composers and performers] to what he [Mr Russell] determined was the first “mystery” school after the so-called Bebop School that came after the first great inventions of Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Kenny Clarke, Tommy Potter, Buddy Rich, Max Roach and Roy Haynes.
The essay in question – Black Mystery School Pianists – forms the conceptual apogee of this slim and important book. Mr Shipp has gathered – and brought to bear – all of his significant thinking into these pages. However, there is so much more between its covers. Even short works such as the ones on David S. Ware [1949-2012]: Beyond Time and Saying Goodbye to Tenor Colossus David S. Ware contain significant building bricks and mortar that get splashed onto the walls of the “school” – if such an edifice is being built, which – indeed – Mr Shipp endeavours to build with words and his music.
In fact, every work – brief or extended – goes a long way towards Mr Shipp’s exegesis. Yes, the word is eminently appropriate as Mr Shipp’s worldview is not simply a musical palimpsest, but a world teeming with ideas with a shadowy, evanescent glimmer of ideas-ensconced-in-brickwork, all of which goes to revealing a little bit more of his Black Mystery School Pianists. So do essays such as the one entitled Boxing and Jazz [FYI: Interestingly, Dizzy Gillespie was glued to the outcome of the fight between Rocky Marciano and Jersey Joe Walcott. Another telling connection between the Black Mystery School musicians and the music].
However, just as significant is the advent of musicians such as Sun Ra, Wayne Shorter and Roscoe Mitchell. Consistent with his theory is the fact that Johann Sebastian Bach makes his oblique presence felt in the essay The Algebra of Non Jazz. Just as significantly [diabolically?] placed is the essay on Monk, ensconced between the one on the mathematics of music [sort of] and Zero Lecture, what one would consider [contextually at any rate], perhaps in the grand scheme of things a slightly sardonic doffing of the proverbial hat to John Cage. And why not?!
Most importantly there is a direct connection between Mr Shipp’s musicianship – the singing and dancing of its lyrical songfulness, its poetry, its conceptual continuity and the whole meaning and description of both his school and worldview and the theory behind his thinking and the actual literary aspect of his craft.
This is to say that in melodic terms, in the harmonic invention that connects one thought with another and in the brevity of its rhythmic invention – the accelerandos and ritardandos – that characterise the sentences as they appear on the page. Here are a few striking exemplars: “Most free jazz pianist do not make the list because the Mystery School is not about free jazz per se. And I say this despite the fact that most free jazz pianists feel a relationship with… [paragraph break corresponds with what one suggests is an exemplar of a sudden change in rhythm like a ritardando, if you will].
… [paragraph which then picks up in thought word and linguistic/rhythmic sleight of Mr Shipp’s hand] as “Monk, despite Monk’s problematic relationship with free jazz. But Cecil Taylor [another musical idea/melodic line/harmonic and rhythmic variation here] makes the list because he is a contemporary of Randy Weston and Mal Waldron and it is fascinating to see those three artists as branches off the Ellington/Monk piano branch. You could not find three artists as different as these three masters, yet they get their nourishment from the same sources.” Such a brilliant example of how Mr Shipp’s literary ability collides with his musica one… such a rich plethora of musical gestures – accelerando and ritardando, staccato and legato in a glorious set of phrases.
To some readers lists [or Black Mystery School Pianists] may be important, but it bears remembering that this is, indeed, a school of mystery. The musical continuum is an ageless one [and speaking for myself] one is still navigating the time and space of it all, familiarising oneself with the idea of penetrating a mystery… that could take forever – literally and metaphorically. Lists have less importance at this stage.
What is important, however, is familiarity with Mr Shipp’s artistic vision and conceptions. An attempt to outline what these are made of come by way of a detailed introduction to the author by his friend and fellow-voyager, Yuko Otomo. It is important to read into the lines and spaces of this introduction by Ms Otomo for it peels away at the layers of shroud that covers the covers the art of the Black Mystery School Pianist – in other words – the Gospel According to Matthew Shipp. Now this is a journey worthy of undertaking before a deep dive into the musical world of the Black Mystery School Pianist that is Matthew Shipp – another world, not unlike some sort of post-Mendelssohnian scherzo viewed in a dark forest wit no one by Matthew Shipp and his music as your one and only guide where magical words and music become wonderful bedfellows.
Publisher – Autonomedia
PP – 94 pages
Price – None indicated
ISBN – 978-1-57027-435-0