Archie Shepp & The New York Contemporary Five

Archie Shepp & The New York Contemporary Five

ASIN: B0002Q210O

Editorial Reviews
Product Description
Recorded live at Copenhagen's famous Montmartre jazz club in 1963. 24-bit remastered.

Archie Shepp & The New York Contemporary Five,Archie Shepp,Storyville Records,Avant-Garde,Hard Bop,Jazz,Pop

On This Night
Average customer rating:

Some of Shepp's Best

On This Night
Archie Shepp
Manufacturer: Grp Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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New Thing at Newport

The Way Ahead

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Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall

ASIN: B000003N6O
Release Date: 1993-05-25

Tracks:

On This Night (If That Great Day Would Come)
The Mac Man
The Mac Man (Alternate)
The Original Mr. Sonny Boy Williamson
In A Sentimental Mood
The Chased (Take #1)
The Chased (Take #2)
The Chased (Take #3)
The Pickaninny (Picked Clean)
Malcolm, Malcolm, Semper Malcolm

Amazon.com

Tenor saxophonist Archie Shepp helped lead an unabashedly political strain during the days of mid-1960s avant-garde jazz. Shepp also peppered most of his recordings with a carefully fractured sound, full of hoarse utterances and guttural gestures towards the saxophone tradition. The reissue of *On This Night* collects some of the best music Shepp played with vibraphonist Bobby Hucherson, who sounds icily abstract with Shepp's chunks of saxophone sound falling all around him. Some of the best moments here feature bassist David Izenson and drummer J.C. Moses playing stunning, spiky numbers. Another treat is famed drummer Ed Blackwell, adding polyrhythmic complexity on his percussive rhythm logs. Andrew Bartlett

Customer Reviews:

Some of Shepp's Best.......2000-07-12

"On This Night" is an outstanding, if not altogether consistent, CD. It definitely contains some of Shepp's best playing, most notably the first five tracks featuring Bobby Hutcherson on vibes. The title track leads off the album in quite an eerie fashion courtesy of Christine Spencer's soprano vocals. The album's inconsistency comes from two places. First, there are three different drummers on the first five songs -- Rashied Ali plays on 1-3, J.C. Moses on 4, and Joe Chambers on 5. These drummers have very different approaches to experimental jazz, and it gives the session a haphazard rhythmic feel. The other problem with the CD is the trio session tacked on the end. While the music is very good, it really makes it feel like two wholly different albums. The trio recordings make up tracks 6-10 of the CD, but three of them are versions of "The Chased." Overall though, this is some of the best avant-garde jazz of the 60s. Not to be missed by any fan of the "New Wave."

Average customer rating:

just the vynil form

The Magic of Ju-Ju
Archie Shepp
Manufacturer: Mca Japan
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Waves
Karma
At UCLA 1965

ASIN: B000J235GK
Release Date: 2007-01-29

Tracks:

Magic of Ju-Ju
You're What This Day Is All About
Shazam!
Sorry 'Bout That

Customer Reviews:

just the vynil form.......2007-02-21

i really would be glad to write a review about this cd, but i'm still waiting for it to arrive to my home. fortunately i bought the vynil about 30 years ago, so i can tell you that it's one of the best shepp's impulse album. it features a rare performance by michael zwerin on trombone, among the others. if you're sure to receive it, buy this cd. i'm not so sure anymore.

Average customer rating:

Wonderful music!
A must for everyone who enjoys high fidelity

Duet
Archie Shepp With Abdullah Ibrahim & the Dollar Band
Manufacturer: Denon Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Goin' Home
Voice of Africa
Left Alone Revisited: A Tribute to Billie Holiday
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African Sun

ASIN: B0000034P4
Release Date: 1993-04-19

Tracks:

Fortunato
Barefoot Boy From Queens Town - To Mongezi
Left Alone
Proof of the Man: Theme
Ubu-Suku
Moniebah

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful music!.......2003-11-25

I borrowed this CD from a friend a few years ago, and now have finally bought my own copy. I can't stop listening to this music! Archie Shepp and Dollar Brand (Abdullah Ibrahim) create music that is sensitive and filled with lyrical intensity. It is warm and relaxed, but never boring because of the fresh musical ideas that keep appearing. This album was originally recorded in 1978, but there is nothing dated about it. The recorded sound is warm and intimate, and the music sets up a consistent mood that always makes me relaxed and happy.

A must for everyone who enjoys high fidelity.......2000-07-09

I got this CD as a gift, when I bought my new CD player. This is probably one of the most intriguing duets with saxophone and piano. No other CD in my collection makes listening to mellow music such a moving experience as Archie Shepp and Dollar Brand. The best song is their interpretation of the "Theme From Proof of the Man". All songs use the full range of tempo and volume. The combination of saxophone and piano create an unique impression in their interpretation.

Average customer rating:

a beautiful album...
A masterpiece!

The Cry of My People
Archie Shepp
Manufacturer: Impulse Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Attica Blues (Dig)
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ASIN: B00014AUTG
Release Date: 2004-03-09

Tracks:

Rest Enough (Song To Mother)
A Prayer
All God's Children Got A Home In The Universe
The Lady
The Cry Of My People
African Drum Suite (Part 1)
African Drum Suite (Part 2)
Come Sunday

Customer Reviews:

a beautiful album..........2006-01-24

lemme take you back to chuuch with this one...

yaknow, we growd up... get too busy for life to spiritually
ruminate upon our origins...

we fall into shambles.
and a state of less-than-somethin-graceful...

this digital age will slowly destroy you/this heavy handed
matrix closes in/captures the core of you in its binary code.

...get free...

...there is still time...

...life is still beautiful and proud...

..."cry of my people" can help get you back where you belong.

and if i'm lyin,
then it's only by
a little bit.

A masterpiece!.......2004-05-06

This is so great that it should be considered holy and is very much so for myself. The entire album is completely professional down to the beautiful cover art. I can't do much justice in writing about this other than if you like blues, hip-hop, jazz, avant garde, african rhythms, soul or better put music in general then this is for you. The title says it all and backs it up with originality and legitimacy that has rarely been surpassed. Simply put,this is top notch beauty regardless of genre.

Average customer rating:

4 1/2 stars.
Best MFT
wondefully, wonderfully, splendid performance
Interesting Juxtapostion though not either's best work
Powerful dual set of live music.

New Thing at Newport
John Coltrane With Archie Shepp
Manufacturer: Polygram Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Live in Seattle
Transition
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Kulu Se Mama

ASIN: B00004SST5
Release Date: 2000-06-06

Tracks:

Spoken Introduction To John Coltrane's Set - Father Norman O'Connor
One Down, One Up - John Coltrane
My Favorite Things - John Coltrane
Spoken Introduction To Archie Shepp - Billy Taylor
Gingerbread, Gingerbread Boy
Call Me By My Rightful Name
Scag
Rufus (Swung His Face At Last To The Wind, Then His Neck Snapped)
Le Matin Des Noire

Amazon.com

The jazz world was immersed in controversy in 1965 when the bands of John Coltrane and Archie Shepp appeared at the Newport Jazz Festival. Coltrane's own style was undergoing constant evolution, his lines more convoluted and explosive, his sound increasingly ranging to vocal cries and metallic abrasions. He had also become a figurehead of the "avant-garde" or "New Thing," an established star who provided a public forum for younger musicians and the creative ferment largely taking place out of public hearing. Here the Coltrane quartet turns in one of the finest live recordings of their signature "My Favorite Things," always a study in sustained tension with Coltrane's soprano keening over Elvin Jones's rhythmic undercurrents. "One Up, One Down," an intensely propulsive tenor performance, is emblematic of Coltrane's emphasis on shorter phrases and a concentrated expressionism. Shepp's set catches him at a creative peak, a gifted tenor saxophonist whose solos could invoke the breathy lyricism of Ben Webster or meld free-jazz exploration with some pointed rhythm & blues. He's joined by a brilliant band, vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson and bassist Barre Phillips complementing Shepp's passion with airy virtuosity and drummer Joe Chambers providing an elastic beat for the leader's creative rhythmic detail. --Stuart Broomer

Customer Reviews:

4 1/2 stars........2007-04-07

this is not john coltrane and archie shepp playing together. this is a 1965 performance at the newport jazz festival of each players seperate quartets. it starts with 2 coltrane tracks, which cover roughly 28 minutes of time, and finishes with 5 by archie shepp's quartet, his set running roughly 33 minutes. coltrane's performance is, as usual, spectacular, and all traneheads should acquire this cd. shepp's stuff is wonderful, too. i have only 2 archie shepp cds in my collection, and after hearing this performance, i came to the conclusion that this is not acceptable. i need to dig deeper into the man's discography. mr shepp and his quartet are inventive and play with intensity and fire. not easy listening jazz. and this will not be for everybody. but it certainly is for me. coltrane fans should definitely love this entire disc.

Best MFT.......2005-07-30

Contrary to what the previous reviewer said, I think this is the best legal version of My Favorite Things. It is similar to the Newport 63 version, but has a new surge of power thanks to Trane's development of new musical ideas. The one snag is that, for som reason, McCoy Tyner chooses to slow the tempo down during his solo; and Trane seems infected by this several times during his solo.

One Down and One Up is a typical Trane theme for 1965; i.e. a tune made up of about four notes, repeated ad nauseum with an ever-rising sense of hysteria. This is a fine performance, but I must admit I find Trane's minimalism from 1965 rather annoying (see Sun Ship for a particularly tooth-grating set of tunes...)

wondefully, wonderfully, splendid performance.......2001-03-24

At first I was reluctant to buy this album solely becauase I wasn't sure how I would like the vibes. Now they have become one of my favorite aspects of the album. It opens with Coltrane playing "One down, One Up," and "My favorite Things." In Coltrane's set, you can faintly hear somebody chanting something, or trying to sing along, or something. This album was my introduction to Archie Schepp and I think I should like to buy something else by him, because his playing is truly haunting. You can definitely here Coltrane's influence on his playing in his screeches and what not, but he has a very deep and original style. We also get to hear him speak his mind about heroin in "Skag." The vibes are a very nice touch, and after hearing this album I don't understand why they weren't more widely used.

Interesting Juxtapostion though not either's best work.......2000-12-28

Shepp and Trane don't share the stage here. Each perform with their working groups at the time. Strangely, Shepp fares better than Coltrane. One Up has never been one of my favorite Coltrane tracks and this might be the weakest of all the officially released My Favorite Things, That said even a weaker Trane set from this time period is worth having.

Shepp on the other hand, makes great use of the rare opportunity to play at such a big festival. He and his group play a set that showcases Shepp's compostional skills and their group empathy. Shepp was never a completely "free" player. His dramatic background would lead him to utitlize his compostions as storytelling. He was branded radical for his "protest themes" speaking about the plight of African-Americans.

Powerful dual set of live music........2000-08-08

Recorded in the summer of 1965, this album throws the listener into a maelstrom of two jazz titans unafraid to test not only their musical boundries, but the listener's as well. The title, "New Thing at Newport" refers to the avante garde style of jazz Coltrane and Shepp unleash throughout the set. The first two tracks are Coltrane's "classic" quartet of McCoy Tyner on piano, Elvin Jones on drums, and Jimmy Garrison on bass. The first track , "One Down, One Up" is a beautiful example of what made this group so incredible. Tyner's soulful melodic chording and lithe solo lines, Jones' detonating sonic assault of his trap set, Coltrane's roaring, honking, and upper scale screetching, all wound around Garrison's pulsing bass work. "My Favorite Things", offers a more delicate form of power. Where the opening track is a rampaging loping dynamo, this version of one of 'Tranes most famous pieces is a soaring majestic exploration. Coltrane's music from 1961 on, especially after '65, tends to either grip or repulse the listener with the same intensity. This material is difficult, not as dense as Sun Ship, Ascension, Om, or Meditations, and may not be for the uninitiated. The second section features, Archie Shepp, who managed to do something few tenors of the avante garde era did, develope his own sound outside of Coltrane's influence. Shepp's tenor possesses a warm distinctive rasp that he collects into searing airy clusters. This parched tone is masterfully demostrated during an extended vamp on the track "Call Me By My Rightful Name". His set, while less dense than 'Trane's, is challenging. The group Shepp fronts consists of the distinctive vibeist, Bobby Hutcherson, Joe Chambers on drums, and Barre Phillips on bass. Phillips bows a haunting intro for the mournful spoken word lament for herion junkies on "Scag". Hutcherson's percussive, jagged approach adds a surreal atmoshpere to the material. The entire group really drives into "Rufus..." listen to Hutch absolutely go crazy behind Shepp's blistering vamp before tearing into his own solo. All listeners not familiar with these artists, or the jazz avante garde may wish to tread with caution. This music is intense and uncompromising. People with an open ear for new music are encouraged to check this disc out. After this cd finished I felt myself echoing the audience at the end of "My Favorite Things" pleading with the artists to return to the stage for more!

Average customer rating:

Black Gipsy
Archie Shepp
Manufacturer: Verve
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00008LPGZ
Release Date: 2005-03-15

Tracks:

Black Gipsy
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Average customer rating:

Steam
Archie Shepp
Manufacturer: Enja
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000005C67
Release Date: 1993-10-22

Tracks:

A Message From Trane
Solitude
Invitation
Ah-Leu-Cha
Steam
52nd. Street Theme

Average customer rating:

Threadbare
free jazz and tradition
Challenging,passionate music of the sixties

Live in San Francisco
Archie Shepp
Manufacturer: Grp Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Fire Music

ASIN: B0000065KM
Release Date: 1998-03-10

Tracks:

Keep Your Heart Right
Lady Sings The Blues
Sylvia
The Wedding
Wherever June Bugs Go
In A Sentimental Mood
Things Ain't What They Used To Be
Three For A Quarter, One For A Dime

Customer Reviews:

Threadbare.......2004-12-21

I'm not much of a Shepp fan, though I like _Four for Trane_; I picked this one up (four stars in the _Penguin Guide_) in hopes it'd begin to win me over. Hmmmmmm. As usual for Impulse! discs the original LP was very short--a bit over half an hour--& given that the feature for Shepp's charming but off-kilter pianoplaying (the Paul Robeson-associated tune "Sylvia") & a plummyvoiced poetry-&-music recital occupy nearly 9 minutes of the album together, I can't imagine that I'd have been too happy if I got this album in its original incarnation. But the CD reissue adds an unreleased "Things Ain't What They Used to Be" & the shapeless but energetic 33-minute free blow "Three for a Quarter, One for a Dime" (originally released as an album in itself) so no complaints about running time.

It's not exactly a primo rhythm section. There are two prevailing schools of thought about the drummer, Beaver Harris: either he's pleasantly loose, or he's just sloppy & hamfisted. I don't mind him, really, but the limping dull-toned bass accompaniment (courtesy Donald Garrett and Lewis Worrell, sometimes together but often taking turns) is just plain terrible: they make a hash of the complex changes to "Lady Sings the Blues", & manage even to sound ineffectual on the blues "Wherever June Bugs Go". (One of the bassists--which one?--often spends ages stuck on the same four descending notes.) Tempos are sometimes unsteady and this never exactly swings, so on the whole I'm happiest on the one free piece, "Three for a Quarter", where they just go for it, even if it's just a shapeless bash & Shepp won't shut up. Shepp's winning card is always going to be his splendidly hoarse, rasping sound on tenor: plenty of it here, & also a few striking moments, like the calculated affront of the hyperactive intro to "In a Sentimental Mood". But the best player on the date without a doubt is trombonist Roswell Rudd, whose sharp commentaries cut effortlessly through the general bleariness & at-sea-ness.

This one really requires a sympathetic ear--maybe if you're already won over by Shepp it sounds great, but to these ears it's pretty unremarkable.

free jazz and tradition.......2001-09-16

Three of these eight tunes are standards; it may seem curious for a free jazz recording of the late sixties,no ? It was recorded February 19,1966, and I was three days old.Archie Shepp's music of that time isn't easy to listen to;more difficult than Coltrane's music.But there is always links to the tradition,and to the great ancesters.In this record,there are outstanding musicians: Beaver Harris on drums,rather a colorist than a drummer,just like Sam Woodyard in Duke Ellington's band;Don Garrett on bass,who played with Roland Kirk and Coltrane,and who does fine job,even if he doesn't reach the level of Cameron Brown in his 70's efforts with Shepp;and Roswell Rudd on trombone,an heir of Tricky Sam Nanton and Dickie Wells.In this record, Shepp pays tributes to two great composers,Duke Ellington ("in a sentimental mood" and "things ain't what they used to be",althouth this one was written by Duke's son,Mercer),and Herbie Nichols ("lady sings the blues",a tune Nichols wrote for Billie Holiday).Shepp also plays a great ballad on piano,"Sylvia".There are shadows of Teddy Wilson and Duke in his piano playing.Shepp's version of "in a sentimental mood",a haunting tune written by Duke (Duke recorded it with Coltrane a few years before),is outstanding.Listening to him,we can hear Hawkins,Ben Webster, and all the history of tenor sax.You can call it "free jazz",if you wish;to me it's only a great hour in the jazz history,recorded at a time when things were not easy for black people in America (are they now???).This is strong,brutal,offensive music,but most of all, living music,with urgence and violence, a beautiful human cry that,35 years later, is always as vital as it was,February 19,1966.

Challenging,passionate music of the sixties.......1999-01-14

Archie Shepp has always been a musical hero of mine. His tenor can sound as beautiful as any tenor sound in jazz as it does on TROUBLE IN MIND and GOIN' HOME (1979). But it can also be raw and passionate as it is on LIVE IN SAN FRANCISCO. This music is of its time but still worth listening to fuelled as it is by anguish, anger and a profound sense of injustice at being black in America. Charlie Parker said " if you don't live it it won't come out of your horn" and Archie Shepp was one of the great exemplars of that saying - he spoke to and of the sixties through his music as much as Martin Luther King did in his way. This is challenging music -it's not sweet music. It's passionate, proud and intelligent music. It is music which says ATTENTION MUST BE PAID. There are two full LPs on this 20 bit remastered and bautifully packaged CD. Both were recorded at BOTH/AND CLUB in SAN FRAN on Feb 19, 1966. The second LP was originally issued as a continuous 33 minute work which divided into two parts, formed side one and two of the LP and is now presented as it should be in one piece. With Shepp are some of the most renowned musicians of the "new" music as it was called in the sixties including Roswell Rudd on trombone and Beaver Harris on drums. Donald Garrett and Lewis Worrell are the bassists. These are master musicians who have chosen to play this music. One track is recitation by Shepp called THE WEDDING backed only by the arco bass of Worrell. The listener may be surprised by the consummate articulation and rich voice of Shepp the actor. I was. This music is also of rich historical interest and anyone even vaguely interested in the evolution of American society into a more just and civilized one, will find this music enriching with being ponderous. It is not just entertaining music. I'm glad I purchased this album.

Average customer rating:

troubled times
Throw away your preconceptions of Mr. Shepp!
eclectically brilliant!
Not What I Expected
All over the map, but always on track.

Attica Blues (Dig)
Archie Shepp
Manufacturer: Umvd Labels
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00007KMSO
Release Date: 2003-03-11

Tracks:

Attica Blues
Invocation: Attica Blues
Steam (Part 1)
Invocation To Mr. Parker
Steam (Part 2)
Blues For Brother George Jackson
Invocation: Ballad For A Child
Ballad For A Child
Good-Bye Sweet Pops
Quiet Dawn

Customer Reviews:

troubled times.......2007-05-05

This 1972 recording for Verve is one of Archie Shepp's more theatrical releases, a statement as to what is in store by itself. Shepp, fuming over the recent Attica Prison atrocity of his day, unleashes horns from hell on this wrathful musical venture. And Shepp is not alone, accompanied by a humungous assembly of musicians helping to knit the intricate musical web that is this album. "Attica Blues" is definitely a group mission and was not intended to just revolve around Shepp's horn, one of the hallmarks of much of Shepp's body of work.

Funky soul driven numbers make up this brave work, along with some rather poetic vocal arrangements and atypical timing in parts. This album is a distinctively Archie Shepp project, from the kicking off of the fervent title track on through to the peculiar vocals appearing on the final track, "Quiet Down". "Attica Blues" was both a cultural and artistic snapshot of the racial woes of the early 1970s, a beautiful reminder of a painful past. Buy this one today!

Throw away your preconceptions of Mr. Shepp!.......2006-06-03

I purchased this album after having acquainted myself with albums like "Mama's Too Tight", "Live at Newport", and "The Way Ahead". Needless to say, it is quite unlike any of those albums. This was a bit troubling at first, but I must admit that once I considered this album as an entity unto itself, it amazed me! This is a very likeable and listenable album, and features the same sort of emotional purity of expression found on Shepp's more "out" blowing albums: That purity is captured here through plaintive lyricism, a heady mix of musical styles, and quaint use of dramatic effects (screamed choruses in the opening track, naively pure child singing on the closer, snippets of poetry and yearning lyrics). This album is fascinating in that it succeeds (imho) at capturing the emotional openness and purity of the free jazz idiom, by totally different means. Appraised on it's own terms, this is a classic.

eclectically brilliant!.......2005-02-20

i knew of mr. shepp, but had never heard anything by him before... this was strickly an impulse purchase... (a habit i indulge waaay too often!)...

but this is proly one of the top ten purchases i've bought over the past 3 years. i'ma pretty eclectic kinda cat... it can be strange, off the beaten track, 'weird' even... just as long as it feels 'honest' and 'human' to me, then i can get into it...
...and this is surprisingly both honest and human.
bits and pieces of clunky poetry... about 5% cheesiness... 100& flawlessly mortal.
how tight is this? the writer for the last cut 'quiet dawn' lets his ten year daughter do the vocals... her voice is shakey, you cant make out everything she is saying, it startles you at first... but after about ten seconds, with brotha shepp's artistry strongly backing lilsista up, this becomes the best most brilliant track on the album!

if anyone knows where i can find lil waheeda (well, maybe not so little now!), let me know... that sista got a dozen roses waitin to be delivered to her!

Not What I Expected.......2004-10-29

Love Archie, but was sorely dissappointed by this CD. There are only two tracks that I really enjoy, and a couple that were truly awful.

I feel I am open-minded enough to listen to just about anything, but some of this was far too self-indulgent and downright sappy.

Not what I expect from this guy.

All over the map, but always on track........2004-05-16

Attica Blues, tenor saxophonist Archie Shepp's response to the Attica uprising, is a much more sobering retort than one would expect from the 1960's firebrand. Vocal ballads dominate the album, which also includes early 70's funk, rock rhythms and some big band swing. It is a peculiarly mixed album, especially in it's vocal performances. The opening title track is one of the most furious free form funk cuts one could imagine, sort of a cross between Sly and the Family Stone and late period Coltrane. Whereas the final cut "Quiet Dawn" is a tentative ballad sung by a child. Spoken word interludes between tracks unfortunately date the album even further than the instrumentation does. Uneven in spots, but not without a certain strange charm; Attica Blues is one of Shepp's most diverse albums.

Average customer rating:

This Album Is The Shepp
What a shame that it can only get five stars!
The Shepp To Get!
"Way Ahead" of the Field

The Way Ahead
Archie Shepp
Manufacturer: Grp Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Four for Trane
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ASIN: B00000DD1W
Release Date: 1998-10-06

Tracks:

Damn If I Know (The Stroller)
Frankenstein
Fiesta
Sophisticated Lady
New Africa
Bakai

Customer Reviews:

This Album Is The Shepp.......2006-05-12

The way Archie Shepp extracts and molds the blues in jazz coincides exactly with the way Jimi Hendrix extracted and molded blues into a rock format.

Archie Shepp was a front runner in the avant garde/new thing jazz scene in the mid-late 1960's - much of the mst acsessible albums, like this one, were released on Impulse! Records. Matter of fact, ANYTHING you can get your hands on that was recorded on the Impulse! label during the 60's is bound to be champion album in creative/imrov group expression

Archie Shepp's "The Way Ahead" begins with a half-rythmic bass line played by the one and only Ron Carter while Archie blows some sax burts. From then on there and for the rest of the album, each track continues to build and explore while keeping a 'much-more-easier-to-listen-to-on-the-first-try-than-other-avant garde-albums' groove.

If you are new to the acoustic avant-garde/free-jazz world - this is a PERFECT place of origin to start researching. This album is filled with bent-up blues licks and everything you would expect from a top-notch Impusle! line up of musicians.

5 stars. Flawless.

What a shame that it can only get five stars!.......2001-11-25

Sad world we live in, only two previous reviews for this classic Shepp CD. Ah, well, more's the pity for the uninitiated. At least the reviews were positive, as you can tell this one will definitely be. If you're in the mood for some challenging Free Jazz, Avant-Garde, Improvisational Music, whatever label you'd like to hang on it- Look No Further! This is a wonderful place to start. With the following personnel: Dave Burrell,Ron Carter, Beaver Harris,Jimmy Owens,Charles Davis, Grachan Moncur III,Walter Booker,Walter Davis, Jr., and Roy Haynes, Mr. Archie Shepp created a small masterpiece with this outstanding set of songs! Buy it, put it on, and FEEL IT!

The Shepp To Get!.......2000-08-16

As an earlier review states, Shepp tended to have some dead spots on his earlier releases. This on cooks from start to finish (which includes two great tracks from his "Kwanza" lp). The addition of piano makes this set his most accessable impulse cd. The piano reinforces the feeling of the blues which as always been present with Shepp, but here there is no denying it. HIghlights include "Frnkenstein" and "Bakai."

"Way Ahead" of the Field.......2000-08-13

"The Way Ahead" is one of Archie Shepp's best albums for the Impulse label, and in my opinion, finally provides the overall consistency that is lacking in some of the earlier releases. While the tunes are eclectic, from the warped avant-blues "The Stroller" to the fiery "Frankenstein" to Duke Ellington's "Sophisticated Lady," it is the group's approach and telepathic improvising that distinguish this recording. While the group only has three horns in the frontline (Shepp, Grachan Moncur and trumpeter Jimmy Owens) compared to four each on "Four for Trane" and "Fire Music," they get a richer, fuller sound here. Just compare this "Frankenstein" to the version on Jackie McLean's "One Step Beyond." There are so many added horn textures here it's like they are different songs. The addition of a piano-man, Walter Davis, is unique to Shepp's Impulse catalog, and really helps bolster the rhythm section and strengthen the overall sound. The fact that two lengthy tracks, "New Africa" and "Bakai," have been added to the CD reissue makes "The Way Ahead" truly way ahead.

Jazz Music:

Jazz Music

Jazz Music