"Avant-jazz pianist and composer Matthew Shipp has been referred to as the "elder statesman" of the art form by DownBeat magazine, but the reach and scope of his music extends much further than mere genre. The Cosmic Piano delivers on that promise - a solo recording that taps into the deeper exploratory potential of the instrument, with Shipp channeling a lifetime of knowledge and a daunting array of influences into nearly an hour of spontaneous, enlightened and joyfully rendered music.

"The preparation is your life," Shipp explains. "If you're a real improviser - and I mean real by acknowledging that it's a praxis and an art form and a discipline - it's like being a boxer. You do your road work, speed bag, heavy bag and then you spar, and it's an all-day process for you. It's a lifestyle."

As with all of Shipp's music, this recording goes beyond any simple categorization, and in part informs why he wanted to release the album through Cantaloupe Music, the in-house label of Bang on a Can. The New York-based arts collective has built a worldwide reputation for nurturing new music dubbed as "alternative classical," "experimental classical" or "indie classical," and is known for collaborating with artists and composers across all genres, including jazz, electronic, rock, pop and hip-hop.

As Bang on a Can co-founder David Lang writes in the liner notes, "Matthew had the idea that if his music could be heard in the context of Cantaloupe's catalog, it could encourage people to hear a different aspect of what he does. It isn't that he made a different kind of music than he usually makes - this music is clearly his! The powerful architecture, the sly dissonance, the joyful and quick changes of pace, they are all still here. What has changed is the context in which we are listening to it. Matthew imagined that changing the frame in which we hear the music might allow us to hear something new in it, something we did not expect."-Cantaloupe Music

"What's in a label? Pianist Matthew Shipp specifically chose this one to release his latest solo work, Cosmic Piano. New York City's Cantaloupe is run by the Bang on a Can performing arts organization, which is known for modern classical (but really genre-fluid) festivals and performances. For Shipp, who is often categorized as a free-jazz pianist, this is a chance to present his music in a different context. When considering the meaning of a label, one wouldn't, for instance, expect to see Miley Cyrus releasing on AUM Fidelity, but if it happened, it would certainly turn some heads. Perhaps Shipp's music isn't quite represented by this example, but once you are aware of it, it is hard not to hear this music in a new context.

Overall, while entirely improvised, the music captured on Cosmic Piano feels structured around a certain slowness. This does not mean that the tempo is slow, but rather somehow time feels partially suspended, unhooked from the normal ticking of the clock. The opening track, 'The Cosmic Piano,' starts the recording with a gently throbbing pulse and rich blocky chords. Short passages with contrasting tempos are interjected, but they serve as a transition between thoughtfully placed rich chord tones. The music unfolds with what could be mistaken for composed modern classical music. Then, the track 'Cosmic Junk Jazz DNA' starts by exposing the basic sequences of jazz piano - intervals that convey the sound of jazz are woven between anchoring events, deep notes from the far left side of the keyboard slam up against sharply phrased, tension filled chords from the mid-field, fragmentary melodies help carry the ideas forward.

'Orbit Light' is a burst of energy. Big, powerful chords are delivered with certainty, the mood is dramatic as the melodic and harmonic ideas act in unison. Classical leaning passages, complete dissonance and stark, naked phrases flow together, again with a slow and purposeful deportment. In 'Piano's DNA Upgrade,' one can hear the stem cells being injected, growing new healthy piano music cells. The approach is lighter, but there is still an oozing slowness below, connecting the many components, feeding the newly forming cells, growing with organic intent. A true slow burner is 'Suburban Outerspace,' in which spacious chords at the outset expand with lush tones and questioning melodic lines, pensive and avoiding expected resolutions.

Each track on Cosmic Piano stands apart, each one has an identify, but they are also very much of a piece. There is consistency and intent in this improvised music, it sounds like it was always meant to have been played this way, except that it has not, rather this is fully improvised music, composed by the cosmos. Cosmic Piano sits alongside contemporary classical music just as well as it does avant-garde jazz, it is definitive musical statement."-Paul Acquaro, The Free Jazz Collective