Armageddon Flower by Ivo Perelman & Matthew Shipp String Trio

[ TAO 18 ]

Ivo Perelman: tenor saxophone
-&- Matthew Shipp String Trio
Matthew Shipp: piano
Mat Maneri: viola
William Parker: bass

[ This highly distinguished assembly made their concert debut at Vision Festival in Brooklyn on June 5: https://www.artsforart.org/vision/ . It was of the godhead. ]

The seminal Matthew Shipp String Trio reconvened in late 2024 in order to commune with tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman in studio. Armageddon Flower is the epic result. This album is a peak gem of improvised communication in each of their extensive and astonishing bodies of work, revealing new ways of exemplifying tradition, language, physics, material, and energy. A profound work presenting such communication at a very high level indeed.

Since 1996 Perelman & Shipp have recorded numerous albums together in duo and small group settings. But as Shipp is careful to point out, “there’s only one Matthew Shipp String Trio.” At the turn of the century, this Trio struck out on a path to redefine “Third Stream” chamber jazz via two very well-received Hat Hut CDs. A quarter century later, this new work clearly builds on extensive, musically interwoven personal history. For Shipp, “William and Mat are as close to my natural soul brothers as you can get––and by soul I mean -the- soul. Ivo is another layer of that same soul.”

Perelman’s copious studio dates – beginning with his self-titled Ivo (1989) – are a continual refinement and study in process whether or not they share personnel, and countless gems reside in his vast body of work. Armageddon Flower is a singular gem in the entire body of improvised music.

While there are sections of duo and trio interaction, the focus here is on four-way conversation in which parallel streams become oceans of sound, only to be distilled into isolated rivulets once again. Without a drummer but with forward motion and bounce, the music operates in a continuous flow of both impulsion and idea.

It’s unquestionable that this is music of necessity, of striving, and of possibility. Perelman had this to say about the album’s title and what these four musicians share:

“Listening to this music is akin to reading the Book of Revelations in the Bible. I called it Armageddon Flower as an attempt to instill some hope amidst the hysteria of the times and contemplating our own extinction as a human species. This music has drama but also has the light of being saved, of the savior, whoever or whatever that is.”

One human massaging 88 keys pressing pads that strike metal string & cable toward resonance within a wooden chamber. One of the most distinctly gifted artists who has ever laid hands on the instrument.

These are Matthew Shipp's albums as leader for the TAO Forms label: https://taoforms.bandcamp.com/

Portrait by Anna Yatskevich