Matthew Shipp (piano)
Michael Bisio (contrabass)
Whit Dickey (drums)

Hallwalls is pleased & excited to announce the Buffalo debut of the Matthew Shipp Trio. In 2001, Mr. Shipp was the musician who publicly inaugurated Hallwalls' newly acquired 1924 Steinway 5M grand piano in a duo performance with saxophonist Rob Brown. Then in 2006, Mr. Shipp was the first pianist to perform on the same instrument at Hallwalls then new (and current) performance space. Both of these extraordinary concerts are among the most memorable in Hallwalls concert history and this trio performance promises to be no exception.

Shipp's played piano since he was 5 years old, studied at the New England Conservatory of Music with saxophonist Joe Maneri, and cut his teeth working with Roscoe Mitchell and David S. Ware. He's since worked with many leading jazz musicians, including William Parker, Khan Jamal and Joe Morris. His most recent recording is the fantastic The Art Of The Improviser—a double-LP showcasing solo pieces and his trio featuring bassist Michael Bisio and Whit Dickey. Shipp's Trio celebrates the upcoming release of Elastic Aspects on Thirsty Ear Recordings.

The trio formed in 2009, though the three have worked with each other in various configurations over the years—Dickey worked in trio with Shipp and William Parker, and also alongside Shipp in David S. Ware's Quartet. Bassist Bisio's been on the scene since the early 1980s, working over the years with Joe McPhee, John Tchicai and Marilyn Crispell.

Matthew Shipp was born December 7, 1960 in Wilmington, Delaware. He started piano at 5 years old with the regular piano lessons most kids have experienced. He fell in love with jazz at 12 years old. After moving to New York in 1984 he quickly became one of the leading lights in the New York jazz scene. He was a sideman in the David S. Ware quartet and also for Roscoe Mitchell’s Note Factory before making the decision to concentrate on his own music.

Mr. Shipp has reached the holy grail of jazz in that he possesses a unique style on his instrument that is all of his own—and he’s one of the few in jazz that can say so. Mr. Shipp has recorded a lot of albums with many labels but his two most enduring relationships have been with two labels. In the 1990s he recorded a number of chamber jazz cds with Hatology, a group of CDs that charted a new course for jazz that, to this day, the jazz world has not realized. In the 2000s Mr Shipp has been curator and director of the label Thirsty Ear’s "Blue Series" and has also recorded for them. In this collection of recordings he has generated a whole body of work that is visionary, far reaching and many-faceted .

Matthew Shipp is truly one of the leading lights of a new generation of jazz giants.

www.matthewshipp.com

"...it's the way he [Matthew Shipp] sprints, cuts, and spins that demands rapt attention. Blocking out heavy chords, rippling through insanely complex but cleanly articulated runs and arpeggios, and plucking strings inside the piano, his hands move both independently and in complete synchronicity. Similarly he and Bisio and Dickey offer up unique takes on the harmonies and rhythms while linking their imaginations into one vision." - DR Absolute Sound

"Shipp's trio walloped the packed Vortex with two richly rewarding, high energy sets which wove obliquely in and out of the standards repertoire." - Geoff Winston, London Jazz Blogspot

"Stellar interplay characterizes the trio program, with Bisio's cleanly articulated arco a muscular thrum, maintaining a constant counterpoint to Shipp's idiosyncratic mix of sunshine and thunder. Dickey adds a further layer of complexity, with his intricate cymbal patterns overlaying his pulsing polyrhythms." - John Sharpe, AAJ

"...one witnesses the unfolding of a monumental work that befits a musician that deserves a place of choice in the jazz piano pantheon." - Alain Drouot, DownBeat
"The fleet-fingered and pitch-perfect Bisio ends the piece with an absolutely jaw-dropping solo." - Bill Tilland, BBC

This concert is made possible through the generous support of Robert D. Bielecki (www.fastorbit.com), a grant for jazz programming from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, public funds from the Music program of the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), a state agency.