"Singularity Codex is a 200 page study of Shipp and the broader continuum of jazz and free music through the lens of his 25 albums (and one volume with poet Steve Dalachinsky) for RogueArt. ... Packed with interviews, photos, and aesthetic meditations, it’s a unique book, neither strictly a biography nor a discography but something else entirely. ... Significant a pursuit as it may be, the purpose of this volume is not to catalog each of Shipp’s numerous appearances thus far. While a discography can tell part of the story of an individual’s work and certainly whets the appetite for sounds unheard, it would almost immediately be out of date and, in truth, only skim the surface of what makes Shipp’s music vital and interesting. But to the latter point, this volume is also hardly a biographical tell-all, though none of the recordings discussed would have occurred without the humanity and philosophy of the artist(s) coalescing in profound ways. So, what is this book? Its purpose is to take a 25-disc (and one printed volume) slice of Shipp’s universe as a microcosm of the larger world of creative music and explore the mutable interactions between history, current practices, and ideas through the lens of one pianist, his various playing partners, and others who have helped realize this work… The albums on RogueArt cut a wide swath through Shipp’s approach and groups and are therefore in turns both representative and unique." - Clifford Allen


"What I find so fascinating about this book is that even though it is about my work, it touches on so many tangents of issues related to modern jazz — the modern art world — the metaphysics of jazz language — the sociology of all this — the revivification of jazz avant-garde language that started happening in the Lower East Side before I moved to NYC, etc. etc. etc. etc. This book goes way beyond me. That I can be a conduit for this makes me proud. That Clifford Allen is a great writer who can bring the nexus of all this together makes me feel fortunate." - Matthew Shipp

On a personal note, it was an honor to first publish a version of the Louis Moholo interview found in Conversations in 50 Miles of Elbow Room issue #2 and to do the initial transcriptions for the majority of these interviews.

“During the last 10 years, William Parker interviewed 32 of his friends and colleagues, musicians and artists. In addition to the 32 interviews, edited by Ed Hazell, the book contains photographs by Jacques Bisceglia and a CD with excerpts of the interviews and great William Parker bass solos.” – RogueArt

Interviewees: Fred Anderson, Billy Bang, Han Bennink, Jacques Bisceglia, Dave Burrell, Roy Campbell, Cooper-Moore, Wilbert de Joode, John Edwards, Ge Gan-Ru, Charles Gayle, Alan Glover a.k.a. Juice, Milford Graves, Clyde Kerr, Joelle Leandre, Frank Lowe, Nicole Mitchell, Louis Moholo, Joe Morris, Sunny Murray, Sainkho Namtchylak, Jalalu Kalvert Nelson, Patricia Nicholson, Carl Lombard a.k.a. Pelikan, Walter Perkins, Richard Rodriguez, Paul Rogers, Alan Silva, Warren Smith, Oluyemi Thomas, Henry P. Warner, & Mark Whitecage

Interviewees & contributors: Muhammad Ali, Marshall Allen, Tim Berne, Nathan Breedlove, Rob Brown, Daniel Carter, Bill Cole, Jerome Cooper, Andrew Cyrille, On Ka'a Davis, Ernest Dawkins, Mark Dresser, Douglas Ewart, Giuseppi Logan, Henry Grimes, Mark Helias, William Hooker, Kidd Jordan, Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre, Jackson Krall, Yusef Lateef, Helene Lebarriere, Sabir Mateen, Thollem McDonas, Jemeel Moondoc, Butch Morris, Fred Moten, Roswell Rudd, Jeff Schlanger, Wadada Leo Smith, Steve Swell, & David S. Ware

Interviewees: Joshua Abrams, Pheeroan Aklaff, Hamiet Bluiett, Karen Borca, Connie Crothers, Steve Dalachinsky, Marty Ehrlich, Ken Filiano, Dick Griffin, Craig Harris, Klaas Hekmann, Gerry Hemingway, Jason Kao Hwang, Oliver Lake, Ingrid Laubrock, Bill Lowe, Tony Malaby, Joe McPhee, David Mott, Bern Nix, Mike Reed, Tomeka Reid, Michele Rosewoman, Lee Mixashawn Rozie, Dave Sewelson, Matthew Shipp, Jim Staley, Jen Shyu, Craig Taborn, Toshi Tsuchitori, Fay Victor, Greg Ward, & Andrea Wolper