Review of Piano Vortex

I love the artwork and I love the idea behind the Blue Series but as with a lot of Matthew Shipp releases he never seems focused enough, even for avant-guard jazz. At times it sounds like he's just playing the piano for the fun of it and hopes a decent sound comes out of it. Some of the tracks are ok on here, like To Vitalize and the title track but for the most part the drums are way to far in the background and don't make enough of a presence. It's a fair disc overall and I'll keep checking him out but this isn't one of my favorites, by far.