Jazz pianist Matthew Shipp has been prolific on the international jazz scene since late 1980s. His approach crisscrosses free jazz, post-bop, and modern classical. After servingin the David S. Ware Quartet, he began leading his own dates. In 1995 he released his debut solo piano outing Symbol Systems. He issued numerous recordings for Hat Art -- including 2001's Expansion, Power, Release -- and on Thirsty Ear, 2007's Piano Vortex and 2013's Piano Sutras. He plays and records with several bands that include reedist Mat Walerian, among them Toxic who released This Is Beautiful Because We Are Beautiful People in 2017. Shipp continued to release solo efforts like 2021's Codebreaker, duo sets like his team-up with saxophonist Chad Fowler on 2022's Old Stories, and trio albums like 2024's New Concepts in Piano Trio Jazz.