Mike Shanley reviews Darius Jones & Matthew Shipp’s new AUM Fidelity release, Cosmic Lieder, in the May issue of JazzTimes.

“Alto saxophonist Darius Jones debuted as a leader for AUM Fidelity two years ago,” Shanley writes, “and his highly original sound and improvisational approach make him a good match for Shipp. The 13 tracks on the duets project Cosmic Lieder sound like spontaneous inventions, but both men play pointedly and empathetically, and when they lock into a rhythmic groove it is especially rewarding.”

He adds, “Jones has a startling command of his instrument…He builds on long tones in several tracks, which Shipp blankets in arpeggios or bits of thunder…the variety of sounds these two explore is what makes the session engaging in its entirety.”

Jones and Shipp celebrated the release of Cosmic Lieder on Tuesday night with their debut live performance at Jazz Standard in New York (check out Hank Shteamer’s extensive review at Dark Forces Swing Blind Punches), and they’ve just been scheduled to open AUM Fidelity’s curatorial series at The Stone on June 16th.

Find out more at http://www.aumfidelity.com

Photo by Ben Gerstein

Tonight at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., alto saxophonist/composer Darius Jones and pianist/composer Matthew Shipp will celebrate the release of their new duo record, Cosmic Lieder (AUM Fidelity), at Jazz Standard in New York.

This will be the first-ever live performance by the intergenerational duo, which came together back in October after years of mutual admiration.

“Matt has been a source of inspiration from the very first time I heard him play,” Jones recalls. “For me, he represents the idea of being an individual no matter what the challenge or situation. He always expresses himself purely, whether he’s playing standards, improvisations or his own compositions. I believe he is one of the greatest piano players of his generation.”

“Ever since I first heard Darius at the Vision Festival a few years ago,” Shipp explains, “I knew he was the real deal and a true recipient of the jazz tradition with the possibility of taking the language forward—in other words a serious, serious talent. It is an honor for me to be a part of the future by stepping out of my comfort zone and playing with a new, emergent virtuoso and finding out we have a lot in common.”

Cosmic Lieder was released earlier this month and quickly earned widespread recognition from critics for its “true collaboration of equals” (S. Victor Aaron, Something Else!), “emotional and conceptual richness” (Kevin Le Gendre, BBC Music), “pure expression that transcends notions of genre or style” (Daniel Spicer, Jazzwise) and “invigorating conversation between two deeply idiosyncratic musical minds” (Robert Sweeney, BurningAmbulance.com).

“I’m going to say this bluntly,” adds Exclaim! reviewer Matthew Fong, “if you’re a fan of improvised music, you need to hear this record…one of the finest displays of improvisation I’ve heard in the past year. Combining language derived from free-improv, jazz and 20th century classical music, they’ve created a 13-part song cycle (lieder is German for songs) that is simultaneously beautiful, ugly, serene and chaotic…the result is a stunning, if short-ish (40 minutes long), album that features two of NYC’s most distinct voices.”

Hear Jones and Shipp talk about the making of this record in this extensive interview with Jason Crane on the April 21st episode of The Jazz Session.

Jones was also profiled in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal and tonight’s show is recommended by Time Out New York, the Village Voice and WNYC’s Music Hub, which offers a free download of the track “Zillo Valla”.

Learn more about Cosmic Lieder at http://www.aumfidelity.com

Photo by John Sharpe

Steve Dollar writes about Brooklyn-based alto saxophonist/composer Darius Jones in a new feature article published today in the Wall Street Journal.

The piece recounts moments inside the recording studio during the session for Jones’ forthcoming second recording as a bandleader, explores his deep connections with the South and his family’s longstanding Pentecostal faith, and discusses his latest release, Cosmic Lieder (AUM Fidelity), featuring duets with eminent pianist/composer Matthew Shipp.

Jones and Shipp will give their first-ever live performance together tomorrow night at Jazz Standard in New York.

AllMusic.com’s Senior Writer Thom Jurek has posted his review of Cosmic Lieder, Darius Jones & Matthew Shipp’s new duo release on AUM Fidelity.

“Conceived as a 13-song cycle,” he writes, “the short pieces on Cosmic Lieder appear seamless; it would be difficult to pry any one piece away from the whole, though they are indeed separate ‘songs.’ While not conventional in structure, many of these pieces feel like—even if they aren’t—mini-tone poems. Shipp’s continually inventive manipulation of chords for their color, sonority, and texture offers Jones a compelling palette to work with, as evidenced in the subterranean elements in opener ‘Bleed.’”

He adds, “Cosmic Lieder isn’t heavy or indulgent; it’s deeply focused, curiously open-ended, and deeply satisfying.”

See Jones and Shipp perform together for the first time this Wednesday night when they celebrate the release of Cosmic Lieder at Jazz Standard in New York. Tickets are still available.

Learn more at http://www.aumfidelity.com

Photo by Ben Gerstein

Today’s episode of the popular jazz interview podcast The Jazz Session features an in-depth, hour-long interview with alto saxophonist Darius Jones and pianist Matthew Shipp.

The duo’s acclaimed new AUM Fidelity recording, Cosmic Lieder, was released earlier this month and its debut live performance is coming Wednesday, April 27th at Jazz Standard In New York.

Topics of discussion include Jones and Shipp’s previous experience with each other’s music, how they first met, why Jones prepared for the session like a boxer, what the recording experience was like, their philosophies for duo recordings, the differences between an artist and a musician, and the value of intergenerational collaborations.

“I feel it’s just beginning,” says Jones of their partnership. “Cosmic Lieder to me is just this little drop in the bucket. We have some shows coming up and I hope that people come check them out because I feel like the language that we’re creating and the universe that we’re creating is infinite. It’s bigger than what one could say in words.”

Learn more about Cosmic Lieder at http://www.aumfidelity.com

Today is the official street date for Cosmic Lieder (AUM Fidelity), the first-ever collaboration between alto saxophonist/composer Darius Jones and pianist/composer Matthew Shipp.

This intergenerational partnership, featuring one of New York’s most talked about young talents and one of its most established and prolific veterans, resulted in an expansive 13-part song cycle.

“These are short pieces,” writes Jazzwise reviewer Daniel Spicer, ”densely compact and almost overwhelming in the amount of creativity they cram into a few minutes at a time. It’s a breathtaking indication of how far collaborative improvisation has come.”

“These duo performances are truly sympathetic and move at the molecular level,” agrees Dusted‘s Jason Bivins, “making each piece on Cosmic Lieder wonderfully dense with information and ideas.”

“If titles mean anything,” adds Brian Morton in Point of Departure, “Cosmic Lieder is rather clever. Lied in the singular simply implies song with some degree of literary quality behind it, but Lieder tend to deliver some kind of cyclical narrative, some sense of journey or soul’s progress, and that is exactly what these two remarkable musicians have created here: a sequence of out-of-body journeyings that you might reasonably imagine Sun Ra and John Gilmore making, significant as much in their silences and elisions as in anything actually said, full of dark matter and tonal dust, interrupted by violent outbursts, punctuated by calms that seem prepared to run on forever.”

Cosmic Lieder is the first of two forthcoming titles from Jones on AUM Fidelity in 2011 (his trio will release the follow-up to its acclaimed 2008 debut, Man’ish Boy, this fall), and its release comes as the jazz world celebrates Shipp’s 50th birthday.

The duo will celebrate with its debut live performance at Jazz Standard on April 27th.

Learn more at http://www.aumfidelity.com

Daniel Spicer reviews Darius Jones & Matthew Shipp’s first-ever collaboration, Cosmic Lieder (AUM Fidelity), in the April issue of Jazzwise.

“What’s surprising is how little ‘jazz’ is present in their playing,” he writes. “Rather, it’s a form of pure expression that transcends notions of genre or style. Both play straight, with little extended technique, trading instead in raw, uncut ideas.”

He adds, “These are short pieces, densely compact and almost overwhelming in the amount of creativity they cram into a few minutes at a time. It’s a breathtaking indication of how far collaborative improvisation has come.”

Cosmic Lieder officially hits the streets a week from today on April 12th and the duo will make its live debut at Jazz Standard on April 27th.

Learn more at http://www.aumfidelity.com

On Wednesday, April 27th at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., alto saxophonist/composer Darius Jones and pianist/composer Matthew Shipp will celebrate the release of their new duo record, Cosmic Lieder (AUM Fidelity), at Jazz Standard in New York.

Jones is an artist on the rise thanks to his appearances on a string of AUM Fidelity releases that began with his distinguished 2009 debut, Man’ish Boy (A Raw & Beautiful Thing), and Shipp, whose longstanding association with the label stretches back to 1997, recently marked his 50th birthday with the release of his acclaimed two-disc set, The Art of the Improviser (Thirsty Ear).

This will be the first-ever live performance by the intergenerational duo, which came together back in October after years of mutual admiration.

“Matt has been a source of inspiration from the very first time I heard him play,” Jones recalls. “For me, he represents the idea of being an individual no matter what the challenge or situation. He always expresses himself purely, whether he’s playing standards, improvisations or his own compositions. I believe he is one of the greatest piano players of his generation.”

“Ever since I first heard Darius at the Vision Festival a few years ago,” Shipp explains, “I knew he was the real deal and a true recipient of the jazz tradition with the possibility of taking the language forward—in other words a serious, serious talent. It is an honor for me to be a part of the future by stepping out of my comfort zone and playing with a new, emergent virtuoso and finding out we have a lot in common.”

Tickets are now available online and Cosmic Lieder officially hits the streets April 12th.

Learn more about AUM Fidelity at http://www.aumfidelity.com