Releases November 6, 2026 / Pre-Orders on Now
[ TAO 22 ]
LP - // Edition of 500 //
Jacket printed on heavier-weight board; LP in poly-lined inner sleeve. Inserts are a pair of frame-worthy 5x7.5" portraits of William & Matthew by photographer Anna Yatskevich (@jazzaddikt on IG). Includes Bandcamp-hosted download card/code.
CD - Deluxe 6-panel digipak, printed on heavyweight board. Yes, it is also going to be a beauty.
Matthew Shipp: piano
William Parker: bass
"To have had a friendship and musical relationship with William that has lasted from the time I moved to New York to now has been more than a dream come true."
–Matthew Shipp
"Every time Matthew's fingers touch the piano, he taps into the pure spiritual world."
–William Parker
Matthew Shipp is a seminal American avant-garde jazz pianist, composer, and bandleader, celebrated as a complete stylistic innovator. His career is defined by fierce intellectual independence and a disciplined, prolific dedication to expanding the boundaries of his art. In seamlessly bridging the avant-garde with 21st-century sonic landscapes, he has expanded the expressive possibilities of jazz.
William Parker is a renowned master of the double bass and from the 1970s to present has been a central figure in the continued development of what is commonly called “free jazz”. He is and always has been a prolific composer of highly estimable reach, a multi-instrumentalist & an expansive bandleader. He embodies a lifelong dedication to universal tonality – as spiritual practice and community-building force – work that has ensured the continuity of an essential art form and fostered a supportive ecosystem for generations of creative musicians.
A Whole System Of is their brand new Duo creation; only their fourth such album in this form. Culminating their four-decade-spanning collaboration on a boundless range of work, the intimacy of duo puts to fore the consummate magic of their deeply developed communion.
A defining period in both of their musical lives was membership in the David S. Ware Quartet, hailed as one of the premier bands in jazz history. Simultaneously, both began and continued building their own landmark & far-ranging discographies as leaders.
Their first duo album, Zo (1994), will be re-issued by ESP-Disk’ (CD; LP for first time) on the same day as A Whole System Of. Full circle style. You can pre-order Zo here, direct from our friends at ESP-Disk'.
Shipp & Parker will celebrate this moment with a rare Duo concert
at Roulette Intermedium, Brooklyn on Friday, December 4.