TED CURSON — Pop Wine (1971-2013) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

This Futura CD issue of vanguard trumpet legend Ted Curson with the Georges Arvanitas Trio in a Paris studio is one of those very special dates where everything seems to go right. Curson is in excellent form here, whether he is playing free improvisation as on "Latin Quarter," which opens the set and is a fiery 13-minute excursion into the outer reaches of free jazz, or turning in a slightly bent but nonetheless streaming hard bop performance as he odes on the next track, "Flip Top." The Arvanitas Trio, an under-celebrated band that backed virtually every major American musician in Paris proves how well it adapts to Curson's muscular style by responding with more muscle. Arvanitas' left-hand rhythm comping is tough and full of fire and edges. On "L.S.D. Takes a Holiday," Arvanitas pushes Curson hard to the edges of a harmonic shelf that finally bleeds off into a blazing symmetry of angles that is propelled into an abyss by the ferocious bass playing of the under-heralded Jacky Sampson. Also noteworthy are Curson's compositions here that, like much music of their time, leave tradition to the dust. He engages it and the blues in a sort of modal inquiry, where he wraps extant ideas about form, tonal sonance, and intervallic architecture in a phraseology and compositional elegance that was beyond most of his peers. Futura's CD version sounds warm, lovely, and very much alive. Thank goodness this is available again.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
Tracklist :
1    Quartier Latin    13:18
 Ted Curson
2    Flip Top    6:33
 Ted Curson
3    Pop Wine    5:09
 Ted Curson
4    L.S.D. Takes A Holiday    12:43
 Ted Curson
5    Lonely One    5:46
 Ted Curson
Credits :
Bass – Jacky Samson
Drums – Charles Saudrais
Piano – Georges Arvanitas
Trumpet, Piccolo Trumpet – Ted Curson

THE GIL EVANS ORCHESTRA — Into the Hot (1962-1988) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Although this album (reissued on CD) proudly states that it is by the Gil Evans Orchestra and has Evans' picture on the cover, the arranger actually had nothing to do with the music. Three songs have the nucleus of his big band performing numbers composed, arranged, and conducted by John Carisi (who also plays one of the trumpets). Those selections by the composer of "Israel" are disappointingly forgettable. The other three performances are even further away from Evans for they are actually selections by avant-garde pianist Cecil Taylor's septet! Taylor's music features trumpeter Ted Curson, trombonist Roswell Rudd, altoist Jimmy Lyons, tenor saxophonist Archie Shepp, bassist Henry Grimes, and drummer Sunny Murray and is quite adventurous and exciting, the main reason to acquire this somewhat misleading set. Scott Yanow    Tracklist & Credits :

ARCHIE SHEPP / BILL DIXON - Quartet (2009) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Tracklist :
1 - Trio
2 - Quartet
3 - Somewhere
4 - Peace
Archie Shepp - tenor sax
Bill Dixon - trumpet
Don Moore - bass
Reggie Workman - bass on track 4
Paul Cohen - drums
Howard McRae - drums on track 4
Recorded:October, 1962    New York
5 - Where Poppies Bloom (Where Poppies Blow)
6 - Like A Blessed Baby Lamb
7 - Consequences
Archie Shepp & The New York Contemporary Five
Archie Shepp - tenor sax
John Tchicai - alto sax
Don Cherry - pocket cornet on track 7
Ted Curson - trumpet, piccolo trumpet on tracks 5 & 6
Ronnie Boykins - bass
Sunny Murray - drums
Recorded: February 9, 1964    New York
8 -13 Winter Song Section
14 - The 12th December
Bill Dixon Septet
Bill Dixon - trumpet
George Barrow - tenor sax
Ken McIntyre - alto sax, oboe
Howard Johnson - tuba, baritone sax
David Izenzon - bass
Hal Dodson - bass
Howard McRae - drums
Recorded: February 4, 1964    New York

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 - Fire Music (1965-1995) RM | Impulse! Master Sessions | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

One of forward-looking tenor man Archie Shepp's definitive early albums, 1965's Fire Music set the tone for much of what was to come over the next several years, both in Shepp's own career and in the jazz scene as a whole. Moving far beyond bebop toward more avant-garde realms, Fire Music was simultaneously a central document of the mid-'60s "New Thing" school of jazz and an arrow that pointed towards the subsequent explorations of Cecil Taylor, Ornette Coleman, et al. The title refers to an African ceremony, and there's an urgency here that's fueled by the civil rights unrest of the day and aimed towards the burgeoning Black Power movement, both of which would remain key jazz subtexts for some time. Fire Music is far from the first free jazz album; Coleman and others had already experimented with free-form improvisation before this. But it subverts the conventions of the bebop generation thoroughly, turning melodies and harmonies both inward and outward upon themselves, throwing open the doors to open-ended structures and tonal experimentation. Even the "straight" tunes interpreted here are given a funhouse-mirror treatment, stretching them beyond expectations. Just as psychedelia expanded rock's palette in the '60s, so Shepp's Fire Music helped broaden the possibilities of jazz. Jim Allen  
Tracklist :
1    Hambone 12:28
Written-By – Archie Shepp
2    Los Olvidados 8:53
Written-By – Archie Shepp
3    Malcolm, Malcolm - Semper Malcolm 4:48
Written-By – Archie Shepp
4    Prelude To A Kiss 4:49
Written-By – Duke Ellington
5    The Girl From Ipanema 8:33
Written-By – Antonie Carlos Jobim, Norman Gimbel, Vinicius De Moraes
6    Hambone (Live Version) 11:50
Written-By – Archie Shepp
Credits :
Alto Saxophone – Marion Brown (pistas: 1, 2, 4 to 6)
Baritone Saxophone – Fred Pirtle (pistas: 6)
Bass – David Izenzon (pistas: 3), Reggie Johnson (pistas: 1, 2, 4 to 6)
Drums – J.C. Moses (pistas: 3), Joe Chambers (pistas: 1, 2, 4, 5), Roger Blank (pistas: 6)
Engineer – Rudy Van Gelder
Tenor Saxophone – Archie Shepp
Trombone – Ashley Fennell (pistas: 6), Joseph Orange (pistas: 1, 2, 4, 5)
Trumpet – Ted Curson (pistas: 1, 2, 4, 5), Virgil Jones (pistas: 6)