Matthew Shipp - Matthew Shipp's New Orbit (2001)
Front Cover Album Info
Artist/Composer Matthew Shipp
Title Matthew Shipp's New Orbit
Length 39:23 Discs: 1 Tracks: 10
Format HQ 192+ kbps Packaging Jewel Case
Label Thirsty Ear Cat. Number 57095
Style General Jazz Rating N/A
Recorded 2001-09-14  at  Seltzer Sound Studios, NYC
Musicians Credits
Matthew Shipp piano
Wadada Leo Smith trumpet
William Parker bass
Gerald Cleaver drums
Producer Matthew Shipp
Engineer Carl Seltzer
Track list
01
New Orbit 03:01
02
Paradox X 04:33
03
Orbit 2 03:40
04
Chi 07:52
05
Orbit 3 02:25
06
U Feature 03:57
07
Syntax 07:18
08
Maze Hint 01:10
09
Paradox Y 03:56
10
Orbit 4 01:31
Notes
AMG Review by Paula Edelstein (4):
As one of the most daring and original pianists in jazz, Matt Shipp continues to cover a wide spectrum of musical concepts and methods as artistic director of the Blue Series for Thirsty Ear Recordings. From avant-garde atonal textures to classical music textures and reams of cosmic consciousness and free expressionism, Shipp has been positioned in a lineage between Thelonious Monk and Cecil Taylor. As the fourth release in Thirsty Ear Recording's Blue Series, New Orbit finds Matthew Shipp at peace with himself in his attempt to unite the many experiences he has had as an Afro-American composer and the "various strands of the modern music world that are relevant to him." Shipp is joined on New Orbit by a great ensemble that includes Wadada Leo Smith on trumpet, bassist extraordinaire William Parker, and the dynamic Gerald Cleaver on drums. Shipp retains his distinctive sonics and musical lexicons on such songs as "Paradox X" and "U Feature" but raises the bar on the previous series' releases with the inclusion of a four-part suite consisting of the title track, "Orbit 2," "Orbit 3," and "Orbit 4." By virtue of Shipp's creative powers, the suite strips away conventional interpretations and immerses the talents of his ensemble in new imagining and jazz abstracts. New Orbit is an excellent delivery of avant-garde and free jazz that remains uncompromising, unrelenting, and totally individual.

Entertainment Weekly (1/19/01, p.87) - "...Shipp and a trio of kindred spirits swing freely between manic and mournful introspection, abstract probes and quiet-storm ballads..." - Rating: A- CMJ (1/22/01, p.29) - "...NEW ORBIT boasts a contemplative sound closer to that of a Windham Hill release - albeit one that features improv..."