SHIPP QUARTET, MATTHEW - Sonic Fiction

After a duo album -- Live at Okuden (ESPDISK 5007CD, 2015) -- and two trio albums -- Live at Okuden (ESPDISK 5009CD,2016) and This Is Beautiful Because We Are Beautiful People (ESPDISK 5011CD, 2017) -- by Matthew Shipp and Mat Walerian, all for ESP-Disk, they offer a quartet album that continues their strategy of working with different musicians each time out. Michael Bisio and Whit Dickey are long-time collaborators with Shipp, but the addition of Walerians Zen style changes the dynamics of their interactions. Walerian and Dickey, masters of restraint, were a match waiting to be made, and their instant rapport is one of the attractions of this album. Personnel: Matthew Shipp - piano; Mat Walerian - alto saxophone, bass clarinet, clarinet; Michael Bisio - bass; Whit Dickey - drums. - ESP-Disk.