Circular Temple

The first document of pianist Matthew Shipp’s trio with bassist William Parker and drummer Whit Dickey (who would later form the foundation of the David S. Ware Quartet) was recorded in 1990 and released on a tiny indie label; four years later, Henry Rollins and Rick Rubin reissued it on their Infinite Zero imprint. The music is out, but fiercely disciplined as well; it’s a four-movement suite, with the third movement a piano-bass duo. Shipp’s love of Thelonious Monk and Andrew Hill is clearly audible throughout, and bop rhythms are deployed not just to be subverted, but for their own expressive potential.