Archie Shepp - Black Ballads (1992)

01.Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans? (7.11)
02.I Know About The Life (5.20)
03.Georgia On My Mind (4.58)
04.Embraceable You (4.41)
05.Smoke Gets In Your Eyes (5.18)
06.How Deep Is The Ocean (5.25)
07.Lush Life (8.33)
08.Déjà Vu (5.08)
09.Angel Eyes (7.56)
10.All To Soon (5.55)
11.Ain't Misbehavin'(5.16).

Archie Shepp - tenor and alto saxophone
Horace Parlan - piano
Wayne Dockery - bass
Steve McRaven - drums.
Recorded at: Studio 44, Monster, Holland. Rec, date: 13 January 1992.

Archie Shepp - Attica Blues (1972)

01.Attica Blues
02.Invocation: Attica Blues
03.Steam (Part 1)
04.Invocation to Mr. Parker
05.Steam (Part 2)
06.Blues for Brothers George Jackson
07.INvocation: Ballad for a Child
08.Ballad for a Child
09.Good Bye Sweet Pops
10.Quite Dawn.

Archie Shepp (saxphones, piano); Roland Alexander (tenor sax); Ollie Anderson (percussion); John Blake (violin); Marion Brown (flute, percussion, alto sax, bamboo flute); Dave Burrell (piano); Roy Burrowes (trumpet); Walter Davis, Jr. (piano); Cornell Dupree (guitar); Jimmy Garrison (bass); Charles Greenlee (trombone); Beaver Harris (drums); Leroy Jenkins (violin); Charles McGhee (trumpet); Billy Robinson (saxophone);; Clifford Thornton (cornet); James Ware, Clarence White (saxophones); Kiane Zawadi (trombone).

Archie Shepp & Karin Krog - Hi-fly (1976)

A landmark meeting from one of the two greatest talents in jazz on the 70s European scene
vocalist Karin Krog and saxophonist Archie Shepp both coming together in an extremely evocative session! The work has a very moody feel as Krog's singing in a spacious tone that allows for plenty of tenor work by Shepp done in a mode that colors in the spaces between the words, and made all that much better by support from his regular group members Charles Greenlee and Beaver Harris.
Shepp was hitting a more traditional tone at this point in his career but as with his other recordings of the same time, there's still a strongly modernist undercurrent that shines through nicely.
Combined with Krog's vocals, the result is a beautiful approach that really opens up jazz standards like "Soul Eyes", "Solitude", and "Hi Fly" and which is matched perfectly for Shepp's "Steam" and Carla Bley's "Sing Me Softly Of the Blues".

1.Sing Me Softly of the Blues
2.Steam
3.Daydream
4.Solitude
5.Hi Fly
6.Soul Eyes.

Karin Krog - vocals
Archie Shepp - tenor sax
Charles Greenlee - trombone
Jon Balke - piano
Arild Andersen - bass
Beaver Harris - drums
Cameron Brown - bass.

Archie Shepp - Stream (1975)

1.Stream
2.Along Came Betty
3.Blues for Donald Duck
4.U-Jamaa
5.Crucificado
6.Miss Toni.

Drums - Beaver Harris
Piano - Dave Burrell
Saxophone [Tenor, Soprano] - Archie Shepp
Trombone - Charles Greenlee
Recorded in Montreux 1975.

Archie Shepp Quartet - Deja Vu (2003)

01.What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life
02.Petite Fleur
03.Les Feuilles Mortes
04.L' Ame des Poetes
05.Gigi
06.April in Paris
07.Sous le Ciel de Paris
08.Deja Vu.

Archie Shepp - Sax (Tenor)
Billy Drummond - Drums
Harold Mabern - Piano
George Mraz - Bass.

Of all the Japanese Shepp recordings, this is the best. His ballad playing is outstanding on this date -- DeJa Vu being a standout. In his later years, he's become a Ben Webster meets Trane outside a blue bar on CHicago's South Side after having smoked a joint with Andrew Cyrille, Reggie Workman and Roswell Rudd. Well woth the high price tag. He's the last of the line!

Archie Shepp - The Cry of My People (1972)

1.Rest Enough (Song to Mother)
2.Prayer, A
3.All God's Children Got a Home in the Universe
4.Lady, The
5.Cry of My People, The
6.African Drum Suite Part 1
7.African Drum Suite Part 1
8.Come Sunday.

Recorded at Allegro Sound Studios, New York, New York on September 25-27, 1972. Originally released on Impulse (9231).
Archie Shepp (tenor saxophone); Peggie Blue, Joe Lee Wilson, Andre Franklin (vocals); Charles McGhee (trumpet); ... Full DescriptionCharles Greenlee, Charles Stephens (trombone); Leroy Jenkins, Lois Siessinger, Gayle Dixon, John Blake (violin); Esther Mellon, Patrica Dixon (cello); Harold Mabern, Jr., Dave Burrell (piano); Cornell Dupree (guitar); Ron Carter, James Garrison (bass); Bernard Purdie, Beaver Harris (drums); Nene DeFense (tambourine, percussion); Judith White, Mary Stephens, Barbara White, Mildren Lane (background vocals).

Review by Thom Jurek

Recorded in 1972 with a core band of Leroy Jenkins, Cornell Dupree (!), Jimmy Garrison, and Charles McGhee, Shepp supplemented these proceedings in much the same way he did with the cast of Attica Blues, with gospel singers, big bands, quintets, sextets, and chamber orchestras, with guests that included Harold Mabern on piano, Bernard "Pretty" Purdie on drums, and Ron Carter on electric bass! Recorded during a period in which Shepp was reaching out of the jazz idiom to include all of what he perceived to be "trans-African" music at the time, there is gutbucket R&B here, as well as the sweetly soul gospel of "Rest Enough." The charts' arrangements are a combination of Ellington's more pastoral moods — usually expressed in his suites — and the more darkly complex modal stylings of George Russell. Unlike some of Shepp's dates from this period, the vocals do not detract from the mix employed here. This is an urban record that showcases Shepp's ability, at this time in his career, to literally take on any project, combine as many sources as he was permitted by his financial resources, and come up with something compelling, provocative, and soulful. All extremes are subsumed by the whole: The avant-garde free jazz of the period is covered in the large-ensemble playing, which is covered by the gospel and R&B stylings that are accented by the free jazz players. Shepp worked with many larger ensembles as a leader, but never did he achieve such a perfect balance as he did on The Cry of My People. Given that the remastered version — with excellent liner notes, superb sound, and a gorgeous package — is being issued during an election year in the United States, its poignancy and urgency couldn't be more timely.

John Coltrane With Archie Shepp - New Thing at Newport (1965)

1.One Down, One Up
2.My Favorite Things
3.Rufus(Swung His Face At Last To The Wind, Then
His Neck Snapped)
4.Le Matin Des Noire
5.Skag
6.Call Me By My Rightful Name
7.Gingerbread,Gingerbread Boy.

 


Joe Chambers - Drums
John Coltrane - Sax (Soprano), Sax (Tenor)
Jimmy Garrison - Bass
Bobby Hutcherson - Bass (Vocal), Vibraphone
Elvin Jones - Drums,
Barre Phillips - Bass,
Archie Shepp - Sax (Tenor),Recitation.

Review by Al Campbell
The classic John Coltrane Quartet made one of its final appearances at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1965. The tension among band members is evident on the advanced versions of "One Down, One Up" and "My Favorite Things." Coltrane's performance is moving...yet weary. It's apparent the saxophonist wasn't getting the sound he wanted and by the end of the year he would take a different direction, hiring Pharoah Sanders and wife Alice Coltrane for the band. Tenor saxophonist Archie Shepp's earlier afternoon New Thing performance includes engaging versions of "Call Me By My Rightful Name" and "Gingerbread, Gingerbread Boy" (included as a bonus track on this package) with Bobby Hutcherson on vibes.

Archie Shepp - Mama Too Tight (1966)

1.A Portrait Of Robert Thompson (As a Young Man):
Prelude To A Kiss
The Break Strain - King Cotton
Dem Basses
2.Mama Too Tigh
3.Theme For Ernie
4.Basheer.

Archie Shepp – tenor sax
Roswell Rudd – trombone
Grachan Moncur III – trombone
Tommy Turrentine – trumpet
Perry Robinson – clarinet
Howard Johnson – tuba
Charlie Haden – bass
Beaver Harris - drums.

The octet Archie Shepp surrounded himself with in 1966 was filled with new and old faces. The twin trombones of Roswell Rudd and Grachan Moncur III embodied this, but so did bassist Charlie Haden and trumpeter Tommy Turrentine, while familiar figures like drummer Beaver Harris and tubaist Howard Johnson had been part of Shepp's regular band. There are four tracks on Mama Too Tight, all of them in some way acting as extensions of the opening three-part suite, "A Portrait of Robert Thomson (As a Young Man)." Shepp had hit his stride here compositionally. The track is, at first, a seeming free jazz blowout, but then traces the history of jazz, gospel, and blues through its three sections. Certainly there is plenty of atonality, but there is plenty of harmonic and rhythmic invention too. The piece, almost 19 minutes in length, has an intricate architecture that uses foreshadowing techniques and complex resolution methods. The title track is a post-bop blues swinger with a killer front-line riff turning in and out as the trombones go head to head. And finally, "Basheer," with its Eastern modality that transposes itself toward blues and folk music, becomes a statement on the transitional ties the '60s were ushering in musically. Here again, lots of free blowing, angry bursts of energy, and shouts of pure revelry are balanced with Ellingtonian elegance and restraint that was considerable enough to let the lyric line float through and encourage more improvisation. This is Shepp at his level best.

Archie Shepp - Four For Trane (1964)

1.Syeeda's Song Flute
2.Mr. Syms
3.Cousin Mary
4.Naima
5.Rufus (Swung, His Face at Last to the Wind, Then His Neck Snapped).


Bass - Reggie Workman
Drums - Charles Moffett
Engineer [Recording] - Rudy Van Gelder
Saxophone [Alto] - John Tchicai
Saxophone [Tenor] - Archie Shepp
Trombone - Roswell Rudd
Trumpet - Alan Shorter.
Recorded at the Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey on August 10, 1964.

By Robert Spencer
This is Archie Shepp’s first album for Impulse (1964); in a gesture of gratitude to the man who got him the gig, he records four Giant Steps -era Coltrane tunes plus one original in an unusual large-ensemble arrangement. It is newly available in a pristine 20-bit remastering.

One listen to this album reveals the debt Shepp owes not only to Coltrane but to Mingus. The group sound here, although Shepp’s ensemble is smaller, recalls nothing more than Mingus’ Impulse recordings The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady and Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus. Shepp does it with a sextet that achieves a fuller sound by containing four horns and no piano: Shepp’s tenor is combined with John Tchicai’s alto, plus the brass of Alan (The Other) Shorter on trumpet and the impeccable Roswell Rudd on trombone. Reggie Workman plays bass and the late, great, criminally underrated Charles Moffett mans the drums.

Shepp did the arranging. At the time his work received mixed reviews, for some of the propulsive dynamism of the original Coltrane quartet recordings of these songs ("Syeeda’s Song Flute," "Cousin Mary," and "Naima" from Giant Steps and "Mr. Syms" from Coltrane Plays the Blues ) is necessarily lost as Shepp transforms the heads that were originally performed by Coltrane’s sax alone into vehicles for four horns. Indeed, if one turns immediately from Giant Steps to Four for Trane, the effect can be jarring. Yet it is only a drop-off in quality if one expects simply to hear Archie Shepp playing Coltrane tunes (an experience that can be had on innumerable lesser Shepp records). Dropping expections and taking these arrangements on their own terms, they succeed beautifully, not in restating Coltrane’s work on these pieces, but making them something new. Check out especially the strikingly imaginative alternating-note head arrangement on "Naima." Four for Trane illustrates the ability of Coltrane as a composer. While Coltrane’s songs were widely thought of as empty platforms for blowing, Shepp shows here that they have the depth to stand a different treatment.

The playing is fine. Shepp’s soloing is typical for the period; whoever first called him a sheep in wolf’s clothing should get an award for precision of statement. His tone is tinged with the multiphonic "scream," but his choices always tend toward lyrical statements. When the tension between these two elements is balanced, as it is here, he is a delight to hear. Wayne’s brother, heard most extensively on "Mr. Syms" and "Cousin Mary," plays a trumpet of similar emotional intensity that to my ears recalls no one’s trumpet work more strongly than that of Mr. Ornette Coleman. Were it not that this album precedes by a year any recorded appearance of the Coleman trumpet, I’d go so far as to say that Shorter actually betrays Ornette’s influence. Perhaps it’s the other way around, or that both Shorter and Coleman take Don Cherry as their primary trumpet exemplar. Rudd, the trombonist, is astonishing. He is a good match for Shepp (as they both obviously knew; he appears on a good many more Shepp albums of the time) in that the playing of both betrays an awareness of the entire jazz tradition. Finally, Rudd is probably the world’s only Dixieland / swing / free jazz trombonist, and virtually any recording with him on it is worth hearing.