Track Listing

1. New Orbit
2. Paradox X
3. Orbit 2
4. Chi
5. Orbit 3
6. U Feature
7. Syntax
8. Maze Hint
9. Paradox Y
10. Orbit 4

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #187829 in Music
• Released on: 2001-01-23
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .19 pounds

From Amazon.com
Open the tray card to Matthew Shipp's second recording in Thirsty Ear's Blue Series and you see the simply scrawled words "Cosmic Consciousness," written in the pianist's handwriting. Such simplicity brings to mind how seldom it is to have so grand a plan in place for music. Where Shipp's Pastoral Composure took an off-kilter look at hard bop (and a gorgeous look at "Frère Jacques") with trumpeter Roy Campbell as the only horn in the quartet, New Orbit calls on Wadada Leo Smith's trumpet as the sole horn. The music delves deeply into the consciousness of improvisation, building on alternating, near-meditative piano figures and then whispering and bursting with Smith's horn. The pacing is at ease, with Shipp's intermittent solo pieces wandering into and through themselves so that they take on a slight roiling appeal, only to be joined by bassist William Parker, drummer Gerald Cleaver, and Smith's loose, fat-toned trumpet--which seems connected via some cosmic dimension to Shipp's trance-triggering keyboard work. What's "cosmic" here? Perhaps it's just the idea that this foursome can come together and weave avant-garde explorations into something that, like the Art Ensemble of Chicago, rolls all jazz into a series of tunes that never veer from inspired, even visionary, brilliance. --Andrew Bartlett

Chronique amazon.fr
Du label Thirsty Ear où sort ce Matthew Shipp's New Orbit, le pianiste Matthew Shipp, un des grands représentants du free jazz depuis les années 90, est le directeur artistique. Singulièrement, cet instrumentiste féru d'acoustique y a montré combien il était ouvert aux autres musiques (on le sait fan de Jimi Hendrix et de rap), notamment à l'électronique, en sortant des albums signés par DJ Spooky (l'excellent Optometry) ou le duo drum'n'bass proche de Spiritualized, Spring Heel Jack (le non moins bon Masses). Ceci étant, l'essentiel du label s'avère plus "traditionnellement" free (Guillermo E. Brown, Tim Berne, etc.), à l'image de cet opus acoustique où Shipp est entouré du trompettiste Wadada Leo Smith, du bassiste William Parker (chef de file du free depuis les années 90 et organisateur du festival Vision consacré au genre et organisé chaque année à New York) et du batteur Gerald Cleaver. La veine en est classique, évoquant les longues improvisations de l'Art Ensemble Of Chicago autrefois. Une page que Matthew Shipp tourne d'ailleurs rapidement en enregistrant ensuite, toujours pour Thirsty Ear, avec les rappeurs d'Antipop Consortium. --Philippe Robert