Pianist Matthew Shipp and bassist William Parker, whose avant-garde musical relationship spans four decades, reunite for the fourth time in the duo format on their new Tao Forms release, Whole System Of. (Their first duo effort, 1994’s Zo, has been rereleased simultaneously on ESP-Disk. CD and vinyl are available for both titles via Bandcamp.) Also recently released is a fine live recording of the Cecil Taylor Unit’s memorable 1979 appearance in Albuquerque.
The quintet has released the final album of a remarkable trilogy inspired by Melford’s fascination with artist Cy Twombly. It’s a keeper.
Perfect Traveler, the new album from Yosef Gutman, continues his illuminating exploration of the human spirit and his invocation of hope, gratitude, peace, and resolve.
On October 16 and again on October 18, 2024, at the Jazz Gallery in New York, guitarist Miles Okazaki presented a solo performance of the entire songbook of Thelonious Monk, which was filmed by Frank Heath and produced by David Breskin. The film, Monkathon, and related materials about this prodigious project will be available free to the public in perpetuity at monkathon.com on Monk’s 109th birthday, October 10, 2026. Also on that date, Okazaki will reissue his 2018 six-disc solo album of Monk’s songbook, Work—unavailable since the sellout of the original printing—on CD on the Cygnus Recordings label.
Over the past two or three months, a number of personal and professional commitments have greatly reduced the time available for listening to and reviewing new releases, and I’ve watched quite a few pass under the Bridge of Timely Review and out to sea. So I hope now to get up to speed again with some short reviews of new and newish releases, such as El Arte del Bolero from Miguel Zenón and Luis Perdomo, Mar Adentro from Oscar Rossignoli, and Illumination from Alex Murzyn.
