ARCHIE SHEPP - The Impulse Story (2007) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Archie Shepp's volume in The Impulse Story series, with liner notes by Ashley Kahn, author of The House That Trane Built: The Impulse Story, is arguably the best and most representative of any of the editions in it. These ten cuts capture Shepp's many faces. There's his wonderful look inside the music of his mentor John Coltrane ("Naima" from Four for Trane), through to his gaze at the jazz tradition (Duke Ellington's "Sophisticated Lady"), to bossa nova (a very unique read of "Girl from Ipanema") to the weighty concerns of his own compositions that engaged everything from the avant-garde "Les Matin des Noires" to politics ("Malcolm Malcolm -- Semper Malcolm"), to R&B and soul ("Damn If I Know" "Mama Too Tight," and "Attica Blues"). While certain albums are not represented here -- the magnificent Magic of Ju-Ju being one -- the breadth and depth of Shepp's true genius is all here. That said, it is a shame that many of his albums recorded for Impulse (the classic Fire Music and Magic of Ju-Ju just to name two) are currently out of print. Of all the volumes in this fine collection, Shepp's stands, with Alice Coltrane's as the very best in that it gives a true introduction to an artist often misunderstood, but during his tenure for this label, he was creatively unstoppable.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
Tracklist :
1     Naima 7'10
(John Coltrane)
Bass – Reggie Workman
Drums – Charles Moffett
Flugelhorn – Alan Shorter
Producer – John Coltrane
Trombone – Roswell Rudd
2     Los Olvidados 8'56
(Archie Shepp)
Alto Saxophone – Marion Brown
Bass – Reggie Johnson
Drums – Joe Chambers
Trumpet – Ted Curson
3     The Girl from Ipanema 8'35
(Norman Gimbel / Antônio Carlos Jobim / Vinícius de Moraes)
Alto Saxophone – Marion Brown
Bass – Reggie Johnson
Drums – Joe Chambers
Trumpet – Ted Curson
4     Malcolm, Malcolm - Semper Malcolm 4'51
(Archie Shepp)
Bass – David Izenzon
Drums – J.C. Moses
Vocals [Recitation] – Archie Shepp
5     Le Matin des Noires 8'00
(Archie Shepp)
Bass – Barre Phillips
Drums – Joe Chambers
Vibraphone – Bobby Hutcherson     
6     Scag 3'23
(Archie Shepp)
Bass – Barre Phillips
Drums – Joe Chambers
Vibraphone – Bobby Hutcherson
Vocals [Recitation] – Archie Shepp
7     Mama Too Tight 5'25
(Archie Shepp)
Bass – Charlie Haden
Clarinet – Perry Robinson
Drums – Beaver Harris
Trombone – Grachan Moncur III, Roswell Rudd
Trumpet – Tommy Turrentine
Tuba – Howard Johnson
8     Damn If I Know (The Stroller) 6'19
(Walter Davis, Jr.)
Bass – Ron Carter
Drums – Beaver Harris
Trombone – Grachan Moncur III
Trumpet – Jimmy Owens
9     Sophisticated Lady 7'10
(Duke Ellington / Irving Mills / Mitchell Parish)
Bass – Ron Carter
Drums – Roy Haynes
Trombone – Grachan Moncur III
Trumpet – Jimmy Owen
10     Attica Blues 4'47
(Beaver Harris / Archie Shepp)
Alto Saxophone – Clarence White, Marion Brown
Backing Vocals – Albertine Robinson, Joshie Armstead
Baritone Saxophone – James Ware
Bass [Fender] – Jerry Jemmott, Roland Wilson
Cello – Calo Scott, Ronald Lipscomb
Cornet – Clifford Thornton
Drums – Beaver Harris
Guitar – Cornell Dupree
Lead Vocals – Henry Hull
Percussion – Juma Sutan*, Nene DeFense, Ollie Anderson
Producer – Ed Michel
Tenor Saxophone – Roland Alexander
Trombone – Charles Greenlee, Charles Stephens, Kiane Zawadi
Trumpet – Charles McGhee, Michael Ridley
Tuba – Hakim Jami
Violin – John Blake, Leroy Jenkins, Shankar

ARCHIE SHEPP - Four for Trane (1964-2001) RM | Impulse! Best 50 – 20 | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

From 1964, Archie Shepp's first date as a leader featured -- as one would expect from the title -- four tunes by John Coltrane, his mentor, his major influence, and his bandleader. The fact that this album holds up better than almost any of Shepp's records nearly 40 years after the fact has plenty to do with the band he chose for this session, and everything to do with the arranging skills of trombonist Roswell Rudd. The band here is Shepp on tenor, John Tchicai on alto, Rudd on trombone, Trane's bassist Reggie Workman, and Ornette Coleman's drummer Charles Moffett. Even in 1964, this was a powerhouse, beginning with a bluesed-out wailing version of "Syeeda's Song Flute." This version is ingenious, with Shepp allowing Rudd to arrange for solos for himself and Tchicai up front and Rudd punching in the blues and gospel in the middle, before giving way to double time by Workman and Moffett. The rawness of the whole thing is so down-home you're ready to tell someone to pass the butter beans when listening. Rudd's arrangement of "Naima" is also stunningly beautiful: He reharmonizes the piece for the mid-register tone of Shepp, who does his best Ben Webster and adds a microtonal tag onto the front and back, dislocating the tune before it begins and after it ends, while keeping it just out of the range of the consonant throughout. Wonderful! The only Shepp original here is "Rufus (Swung, His Face at Last to the Wind, Then His Neck Snapped)." It's not a terribly sophisticated tune, but it works in the context of this band largely because of the soloing prowess of all the members -- particularly Tchicai -- here. There is barely any melody, the key changes are commensurate with tempo shifts, and the harmonics are of the sliding scale variety. Still, there are the blues; no one can dig into them and honk them better than Shepp. When it came to sheer exuberance and expression, he was a force to be reckoned with in his youth, and it shows in each of the tunes recorded here. Four for Trane is a truly fine, original, and lasting album from an under-celebrated musician.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
Tracklist :
1 Syeeda's Song Flute 8:28
 John Coltrane
2 Mr. Syms 7:39
 John Coltrane
3 Cousin Mary 7:13
 John Coltrane
4 Naima 7:08
 John Coltrane
5 Rufus (Swung, His Face At Last To The Wind, Then His Neck Snapped) 6:25
Archie Shepp
Credits :
Alto Saxophone – John Tchicai
Bass – Reggie Workman
Drums – Charles Moffett
Engineer – Rudy Van Gelder
Producer – Bob Thiele, John Coltrane
Tenor Saxophone – Archie Shepp
Trombone – Roswell Rudd
Trumpet – Alan Shorter

ARCHIE SHEPP - Coral Rock (1970) lp | FLAC (tracks), lossless

Coral Rock features an absolutely monster free jazz lineup. Fans of other releases on America or the BYG Actuel series should be familiar with a number of these sidemen: Bobby Few, Clifford Thornton, Muhammad Ali, Joseph Jarman. Particularly of interest, though, might be the under-recorded Alan Shorter, who contributed the title track. This piece is especially reminiscent of "Mephistopheles," a tune that appeared (in different capacities) on his brother Wayne's similarly great Blue Note LP The All Seeing Eye and certain reissue pressings of the self-titled Marion Brown record on ESP. Like "Mephistopheles," "Coral Rock" features a lumbering, march-like bassline and incredibly dissonant head. "Coral Rock," however, is much looser and, for this reason, it would be difficult to imagine it on a Blue Note release of any kind. This is free jazz straight out of the late-'60s/early-'70s Paris scene. Very serious stuff. That having been said, the inclusion of the standard "I Should Care" may come as a surprise, but one should keep in mind that no matter how far out Archie Shepp got, his roots have always been firmly planted in the past. It is seemingly presented here more as a vehicle for pianist Bobby Few than anything else and, within Shepp's catalog, might be compared to the free blues of "Damn If I Know (The Stroller)" from his 1968 Impulse LP, The Way Ahead. This session was reissued in the States by Prestige. Brandon Burke
SIDE A     Coral Rock 21'35
Alan Shorter
SIDE B     I Should Care 14'05
Sammy Cahn / Axel Stordahl / Paul Weston
Credits :
Bass – Bob Reid
Congas [Conga Drums] – Djibrill
Drums – Mohamed Ali
Flugelhorn [Flugal Horn] – Alan Shorter
Percussion – Ostaine Blue Warner
Piano – Bobby Few
Tenor Saxophone [Tenor-Sax], Piano – Archie Shepp
Trumpet – Lester Bowie
Valve Trombone [Valve-Trombone] – Clifford Thornton