Archie Shepp - Black/Blue Ballads

[Kreilly]

Fair enough, although I'd submit for consideration the thought that from their respective beginnings, Roscoe was first and foremost an explorer whose voice was the semi-secondary byproduct of his searching, that Shepp was first and foremost a voice whose innovations were the semi-secondary byproduct of his developing that voice, and that in that regard, things are still as they were at the beginning.

As they almost inevitably are.

I had to read this a few times. Agreed.

So what should I check out? Blue Ballads? I don't see it listed in the allmusic guide. Black Ballads, True Ballads, True Blue but not Blue Ballads.

Also, since I'm not a musician, I wonder if embouchure problems are more prevalent with the tenor as opposed to the alto or soprano. Is there something about the tenor? I spoke briefly to Charles Gayle and he said that he no longer plays tenor. When I asked why he said that it was just too hot for him.

[JSngry]

No, Blue Ballads isn't listed on AMG for some reason. But it's on the Japanese Venus label, and is a very worthy listen I think. I think that Cadence might carry it.

Another really good one is Ginseng, a 1986 date made under the co-leadership of African pianist Tchangodei, about whom I know nothing other than that he plays really well. More info here: http://www.tchangodei.com/frameset-mus-gb.htm

The side on Fluid w/Joe Lee Wilson is called A Touch Of The Blues, and to my knowledge has never been out on CD. Worth the hunt, but it'll probably be a long one...

The Delmark side w/The Ethnic Heritage Ensemble is readily available, although I think it might be more readily appreciated by somebody who's followed Shepp's later years with interest rather than relative disinterest.

All the Steeplechase duet sides w/Parlan are very much to my liking. Also on Steeplechase is another duet album, this time with Jasper Van't Hof, Mama Rose, that I've always been fond of. It's got both sythesizers & Shepp vocals, so be forewarned, but the music has always reached me.

The duet sides w/Max Roach are truly essential latter-day Shepp, I think. The Long March on hat is the better known and more easily found, but another, significantly more obscure one, Force, on the Italian Base label, is the shit afaic. That bad boy is serious. But once again, good luck finding it...

Of course, no Shepp collection is complete w/o his performance w/a then unknown Whitney houston on a Material side, but that's edging into, shall we say, "esoterica".

Shepp's been such a whore about recording over the years (really, he was David Murray before David Murray was...) that you gotta wade through a whole lot of shit (ranging from merely mediocre to truly horrible) to find the good stuff, and quite often the good stuff is on little "rural" labels that came and went w/little more that a (hopefully) few coins for the players at the end of the session and a few LPs that made it out into the world for a few minutes. And other than the Steeplechase sides (with & w/o Parlan), I can't really say that any of Shepp's "high profile" (in terms of American distibution) dates have shown him at what I would consider his latter-day best. C'est la vie...

As for the tenor thing, yeah - it's a very physically demanding instrument, especially if you approach it like Shepp does/did and use a wide open mouthpiece, the stiffest possible reed, and an embrochure that basically consists of frequently swallowing the mouthpiece, blowing as hard as you can, and letting your cheeks puff out to an extent that rivals Dizzy Gillespie's. That's what he needed to to to get that powerful sound of his, but you can only taunt nature for so long, if you know what I mean...

[Kalo]

Shepp's been such a whore about recording over the years (really, he was David Murray before David Murray was...)

[clifford_thornton]

The duet sides w/Max Roach are truly essential latter-day Shepp, I think. The Long March on hat is the better known and more easily found, but another, significantly more obscure one, Force, on the Italian Base label, is the shit afaic. That bad boy is serious. But once again, good luck finding it...

Force is a motherfucker, indeed. It originally came out on Uniteledis (France), a subsidiary of Palm. The other Shepp record in that series was Massy U-Jaama, a quintet which is also pretty nice.

[Dave James]

Lots of Shepp material is available from Alan Lawrence at The Jazz Loft in Seattle. www.jazzloft.com.

Up over and out

[JSngry]

Force is a motherfucker, indeed. It originally came out on Uniteledis (France), a subsidiary of Palm.

I've only got it as a tape dub, but my notes for it list both Uniteledis & Base as the label. Any idea what's up w/that?

[Man with the Golden Arm]

I like the Frenchiness of this one -

Mabern lays down beautiful groundwork and Shepp sours over the top just to keep you from making it background music. Kind of like taking a nice pee in the Tuileries.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

Shepp sours over the top

Yeah, "sour" is what I'd use to describe his tone sometimes too.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Shepp sours over the top

Yeah, "sour" is what I'd use to describe his tone sometimes too.

It sounds like a cocktail you'd pour over a trifle. Cocktail sax!

MG

[clifford_thornton]

I've only got it as a tape dub, but my notes for it list both Uniteledis & Base as the label. Any idea what's up w/that?

There is a Base Italian pressing from the 80s, with the typical black-on-white Base logo. The original French pressing has a black label with orange graphics, cat. no. 28976 (September 28, 1976 recording date). The other Uniteledis Shepp, afaik, was not reissued by Base.

Jef Gilson and Gerard Terrones both had something to do with the label, though I've always heard it was mostly Gilson's deal. The inner sleeves and pressings look more like Palm than Futura/Marge.

Maybe brownie could shed some light?

[clifford_thornton]

Both of those Uniteledis LPs are outstanding, just to reiterate...

Anybody heard/have the Attica Blues Big Band on Blue Marge? It always looked pretty heavy, though the "original" Attica Blues was never my cup o' tea.

[paul secor]

I've only got it as a tape dub, but my notes for it list both Uniteledis & Base as the label. Any idea what's up w/that?

There is a Base Italian pressing from the 80s, with the typical black-on-white Base logo. The original French pressing has a black label with orange graphics, cat. no. 28976 (September 28, 1976 recording date). The other Uniteledis Shepp, afaik, was not reissued by Base.

Jef Gilson and Gerard Terrones both had something to do with the label, though I've always heard it was mostly Gilson's deal. The inner sleeves and pressings look more like Palm than Futura/Marge.

Maybe brownie could shed some light?

The Japanese also got into the act with this set. I have it on a Japanese JVC issue - JVC stickers pasted over "VICTOR" printed on the LP labels.

[paul secor]

Both of those Uniteledis LPs are outstanding, just to reiterate...

Anybody heard/have the Attica Blues Big Band on Blue Marge? It always looked pretty heavy, though the "original" Attica Blues was never my cup o' tea.

I have the 2 LP version of Attica Blues Big Band. It's since been reissued as a 2 CD set. Haven't listened to it in a long while, though I have good memories of it. I liked it more than the Impulse Attica Blues.