Matthew Shipp / Sabir Mateen, Zurich 2012

Althouh this blog is subtitled “Jump, Jazz, Jive, Vintage R’n'B”, from time to time what you get to see and hear here is some classic Free Jazz. After all this the music that I started out with when I became a jazz fanatic – working my way back in time (from Albert Ayler to Coleman Hawkins, from Sun Ra to Duke, Basie, Lunceford).

Now two weeks ago at the Taktlos Festival which is dedicated to improvised music they had pianist Matthew Shipp again (he was at the Taktlos in 1998). This time he was playing in a duo situation with clarinetist/saxophonist Sabir Mateen. I am offering you a fifteen minute excerpt here. The stupid split screen effect comes from a column in the room. What was I thinking when I placed myself there? A reviewer from one of the local newspapers called this “classic boring free jazz”. Well, classic, yes. Boring? Not for me, I enjoyed it very much. But decide for yourself:

Enjoy!

Matthew Shipp Trio in Basel 1998

Correction (12/22/2011): The date of this concert has been established as march 26th (Thanks, Hubi!).

Since 1984 the Taktlos Festival has been presenting “improvised and contemporary music” in several swiss cities, mostly offering formations from the european impro-music scene.  And from time to time they have groups in the program that could be defined as representatives of the Great Black Music continuum. One of the most impressive performances that I saw in this regard was the apperance of the Matthew Shipp Trio  featuring William Parker and Susie Ibarra in March 1998, a performance that kept me sitting on the edge of my chair. Luckily my friend Otto as always had a camera with him …