''Piano Sutras'' is a solo album by American jazz pianist

Matthew Shipp Matthew Shipp (born December 7, 1960) is an American avant-garde jazz pianist, composer, and bandleader. Early life and education Shipp was raised in Wilmington, Delaware. His mother was a friend of trumpeter Clifford Brown. He began playing ...

, which was recorded in 2013 and released on

Thirsty Ear Thirsty Ear Recordings is an American independent record label. It was founded in the late 1970s as a marketing company for the then-unnamed alternative music field, and expanded to issue its own records in 1990. Thirsty Ear came to prominence ...

's Blue Series.

Reception

In his review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

, Thom Jurek states " As a whole, ''Piano Sutras'' is instructive; it showcases Shipp's musical dialogue with the listener as evolutionary. It offers an incremental glimpses into his process of discovery and evidence of his mastery when kinetically applying his finely tuned sense of hearing." The ''

Down Beat ''DownBeat'' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm that it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1 ...

'' review by Daniel A. Brown describes the album as "a 13-track collection of pieces that are in turn meditative and aggressive, at times in the same song" and says that "also further reveals Shipp’s mastery of dynamic playing, his awareness of both the timbral limits and sonic possibilities of the piano."Brown, Daniel A. ''Piano Sutras'' review. ''Down Beat'' November 13: page 59. Print. The

All About Jazz ''All About Jazz'' is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, ''Jazz Near ...

review by John Sharpe notes that "Of all his outings, ''Piano Sutras'' most resembles '' Un Piano'' in that it comes across as a series of spontaneous improvisations, eschewing the more overtly scripted numbers present on other studio sessions such as ''4D'' and ''

One 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

''."Sharpe, John
''Piano Sutras'' review
at

The ''

JazzTimes ''JazzTimes'' was an American print magazine devoted to jazz. Published 10 times a year, it was founded in Washington, D.C., in 1970 by Ira Sabin as the newsletter ''Radio Free Jazz'' to complement his record store. Coverage After a decade ...

'' review by Bill Beuttler states "Nobody judging Shipp by ''Piano Sutras'' could accuse him of lacking a language of his own. Shipp himself admits no influences. To the extent others might recognize them here, they seem drawn from artists similarly removed from conventional jazz piano."Beuttler, Bill
''Piano Sutras'' review
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'' In a review for

Tiny Mix Tapes ''Tiny Mix Tapes'' (also ''TMT'' or ''tinymixtapes'') is an online music and film webzine that focuses primarily on new music and related news. In addition to its reviews, it is noted for its subversive, political, and sometimes surreal news, ...

Clifford Allen notes that "''Piano Sutras'' may at times seem singular and hermetic, separate as it is from group music, but Shipp's solos are multivalent and extraordinarily open."Allen, Clifford
''Piano Sutras'' review
at

The ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, ...

'' review by Will Layman states "''Piano Sutras'' is a glorious, generous, fully mature expression of creativity that could only have come from one artist. It is as good and adventurous as jazz is going to sound in 2013."Layman, Will
''Piano Sutras'' review
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Track listing

:''All compositions by Matthew Shipp except as indicated'' # "Piano Sutras" – 4:46 # "Cosmic Shuffle" – 5:55 # "Surface to Curve" – 3:48 # "Blue to a Point" – 4:50 # "Cosmic Dust" – 2:57 # "

Giant Steps ''Giant Steps'' is a studio album by the jazz musician John Coltrane. It was released in January or February 1960 through Atlantic Records. This was Coltrane's first album as leader for the label, with which he had signed a new contract the previ ...

" (

John Coltrane John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the Jazz#Post-war jazz, history of jazz and 20th-century musi ...

) – 1:11 # "Uncreated Light" – 3:48 # "Fragment of a Whole" – 4:34 # "Space Bubble" – 4:32 # "Nefertiti" (

Wayne Shorter Wayne Shorter (August 25, 1933 – March 2, 2023) was an American jazz saxophonist, composer and bandleader. Shorter came to mainstream prominence in 1959 upon joining Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, for whom he eventually became the primary comp ...

) – 2:18 # "Angelic Brain Cell" – 5:49 # "Silent Cube" – 3:45 # "The Indivisible" – 3:58

Personnel

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

References

{{Authority control 2013 albums Matthew Shipp albums Solo piano jazz albums Thirsty Ear Recordings albums