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IVO PERELMAN / MATTHEW SHIPP - Live in Nuremberg

SMP Records CD SMP 

Ivo Perelman, tenor saxophone; Matthew Shipp, piano
Recorded live in June 2019 at “The Art of Improvisation” festival, in Nürnberg, Germany

I had planned to have a first hearing of the album then became time-constrained, so chose just to hear the second track – Encore.  So astonished was I that I had to hear everything right away.  Encore is captivating, mesmerising even.  I felt that if this encore was a brief reconstruction of what had gone before, then all of that had to be magical and I had to hear it at once  This I did, sitting staring at a landscape on my PC monitor, completely absorbed into the marvellous inventiveness and phenomenal originality.

The musical debate and story telling are delivered effortlessly and proficiently, as is their wont, and there is an interplay between solo efforts and interaction which suggests two languages becoming one.  These two artists really do seem to have found or created an informal colloquy which echoes their musical empathy.
A little closer to earth it is worth commenting on the clarity of the recording – everything seems crystal clear and I am sure that I have heard everything there is to hear.  This is especially important with music of this genre – it is free improvisation and cannot be repeated, it is absolutely new, stunningly individual and tells of what may be to come.  Whatever, I eagerly anticipate it.
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Perelman/Shipp’s Nuremberg is an absolutely outstanding album.
 
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham

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