Recurring motifs are something of a Matthew Shipp staple, occurring overtly in the separated suite on New Orbit and more subtly on last-year's Piano Vortex. Cosmic Suite retains the PV rhythm section of drummer Whit Dickey and bassist Joe Morris while adding Daniel Carter on a variety of horns. The shape-shifting elasticity of PV is likewise retained, as the nine "Parts" of the Cosmic Suite are dynamic and rarely abrupt. Rather, the parts flow — shifts of tone, tempo and intensity that are surprising but not illogical.

Carter pulls yeoman duty, his muted trumpet adding to the ominous vibe of "Part One," his bass clarinet settling nicely between the big cymbals and gentle piano of "Part Two" and his sax contributing to the antsy, slippery, gushing energy of "Part Eight." Once again, Shipp demonstrates that he's cerebral in the best sense, creating innovative but hardly egg-headed stabs, clusters, ruminative interludes and thundering chords that shade his songs and the ideas of his fellow soloists in atypical ways. He is that rare stylist for whom implacability is a virtue, as on his solo piano spotlight, "Part Seven," where his even-handed phrases are oblique and austere yet tonally and moodily wide-ranging.

"Part Four" is… read more »