Matthew Shipp and Newman Taylor Baker | Arts for Art 2019 Benefit

Newman Taylor Baker started playing with Matthew Shipp in 2015, becoming a member of the pianist’s trio and recording the album “The Conduct of Jazz.” Along with being a master drummer, Baker is an accomplished washboard player, first picking up the instrument to perform without rehearsal to sub onto a gig for the Black string band the Ebony Hillbillies.

In 2019, Baker and Shipp performed a rare washboard and piano duet on the occasion of Arts for Art’s founder Patricia Nicholson’s 70th Birthday Benefit Celebration.

Filmed and recorded November 19, 2019 at the Clemente, NYC.

Support Arts for Art: https://www.artsforart.org/support​​

Please subscribe to the AFA / Vision YouTube channel for the best in Free music and arts: https://www.youtube.com/c/ArtsforArt?...

Master Percussionist, Composer, Vocalist and Educator, Newman Taylor Baker is originally from Petersburg, VA born to a family of scholars.  His paternal grandfather was the only former slave to receive a PH.D from Yale University. His passion for the drum and washboard would take him all around the world sharing his knowledge, experience, and innovation through his solo drumset project, Singin' Drums and washboard explorations with THE EBONY HILLBILLIES and beyond - with his Washboard XT project. He is truly a master of the drums working internationally with truly the best of the best - a diverse array of jazz masters including Joe Henderson, McCoy Tyner, Henry Grimes, Kenny Barron, Henry Threadgill, Billy Bang, Leroy Jenkins, Diedre Murray, Ahmad Jamal, Lou Donaldson, Kevin Eubanks, Billy Harper, Sam Rivers, Charlie Rouse, and so many more....
Newman was also awarded a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship and grants from Meet The Composer and the National Endowment for the Arts. He is truly a drummer's drummer - and a washboard innovator.

Matthew Shipp has reached the holy grail of jazz in that he possesses a unique style on his instrument that is all of his own, and he's one of the few in jazz that can say so. Shipp has recorded a lot of albums with many labels but his 2 most enduring relationships have been with two labels. In the 1990s he recorded a number of chamber jazz cds with Hatology, a group of cds that charted a new course for jazz that, to this day, the jazz world has not realized. In the 2000s Mr. Shipp has been curator and director of the label Thirsty Ear's "Blue Series" and has also recorded for them. In this collection of recordings he has generated a whole body of work that is visionary, far reaching and many faceted. Matthew Shipp is truly one of the leading lights of a new generation of jazz giants.

Filmed by Moon Lasso: http://moonlasso.com/

#freejazz #creativeimprovisation #avantgarde #jazzpiano #instrumentmaker #freeimprovisation #freejazzpiano #avantgardepiano #creativemusic #MatthewShipp #ShippPiano #NewmanTaylorBaker #Bakerdrums #jazzpercussion #jazzduo