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LP
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TPR 311LP
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Archie Shepp's world has always been filled with fire music, and eventually Fire Music. Before that landmark LP, Shepp made Four for Trane -- his August 1964 beachhead with Impulse. And even before that, as it turns out, came this one blip -- the earliest Shepp leader project yet on record. Under supervision of the artist, this previously unissued demo recording is now available from Triple Point Records. As the cover of Derailleur suggests, Shepp tries out some surprising combinations for the session. The playlist includes two of Archie's earliest documented compositions -- the jagged 5/4 statement "Viva Jomo" and a shuffling blues named for his Florida homeland. And an homage to Maestro Ellington of course. Archie had already defined his voice while a sideman and co-leader; now he was looking for his team. Shepp momentarily adopted the quartet that Steve Lacy and Roswell Rudd led in the Village. This assemblage delivered a spontaneous demo, and engineer Art Crist captured it in a mono studio session. Buried in Archie's tape archive was this batch of music that was all but forgotten; now Triple Point has polished it into crisp perfection. Pressed on 150g vinyl at Independent Record Pressings, this release features an insert that contains photos and a new historical essay by Ben Young.
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LP
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MOV 2954BLUE-LP
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"Archie Shepp's Black Ballads was released in 1992. This double LP features eleven great jazz ballads including classics such as 'Embraceable You' and 'Georgia On My Mind' by the tenor saxophonist. Shepp is supported by pianist Horace Parlan, bassist Wayne Dockery and drummer Steve McRaven. Black Ballads is available as a limited edition of 500 individually numbered copies on translucent blue colored vinyl."
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LP
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IMP 57384LP
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2023 restock; originally released in 1965. 2019 reissue. "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 (All Music Guide)
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2LP
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FOX 034LP
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Alternative Fox present a reissue of Archie Shepp's The Tradition, originally released in 1978. Avant-garde giant Archie Shepp made an indelible contribution to experimental jazz. Double-LP The Tradition was recorded in Rome in 1977 for Horo Records with drummer Clifford Jarvis and bassist Cameron Brown; the raucous "Hooray For Mal" has shades of be-bop, while Duke Ellington's "Sophisticated Lady" is largely tackled by Shepp on upright piano (with gorgeous soloing by Brown); "Things Have Got To Change" hearkens to Shepp's experience of the Pan-African Cultural Festival of Algiers of 1969 and Ellington's "I Didn't Know About You" is relayed as a soft tenor ballad with rough edges.
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LP
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BSR 002LP
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Black Saint present a reissue of Archie Shepp's A Sea of Faces, originally released in 1975. Recorded in Milan (Italy), A Sea of Faces stands as one of Shepp's strongest recordings of the '70s. A highly varied program, covering Shepp's entire spectrum and performed by an all-star line-up featuring Archie Shepp (tenor & soprano sax, piano, vocals), Charles Greenlee (trombone, tambourine, vocals), Dave Burrell (piano), Cameron Brown (bass), Beaver Harris (drums, tambourine, vocals), Rafi Taha (vocals), and Bunny Foy (vocals, maracas, percussion). The album includes the famous 26-minute long "Hypnosis," a groovy extended jam in full spiritual Jazz mode.
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LP
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IMP 9134HLP
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2018 repress. Gatefold 180 gram exact repro reissue, originally released on Impulse! in 1966. Officially licensed through Verve/Universal. Features one of Shepp's finest moments, the intricate, 18+ minute epic three-part suite "A Portrait Of Robert Thompson (as a young man)." Features: Tommy Turrentine, Roswell Rudd, Grachan Moncus III, Perry Robinson, Charlie Haden, Howard Johnson, Beaver Harris. "It was my intention to couple, in this album, the poignancy of the blues and the jubilant irreverence of a marching band returning from a funeral. It is my interpretation of a slave and neo-slave experience; rather like the feeling of being subjected to a 'haunt.' But the victims have their ghosts too. Where my own dreams sufficed, I disregarded the western musical tradition all together. After all, the 'forms' we are working with are relatively new (I challenge the thesis that they are substantially new)." -- Archie Shepp
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LP
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BYG 351LP
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2024 restock.. 51st volume in the BYG Actuel series; gatefold sleeve, 180 gram vinyl. "Striking live performances recorded at the first Panafrican Festival in Algiers during July of 1969. Archie Shepp with a stellar line-up including Clifford Thornton, Grachan Moncur III, Dave Burrell, Alan Silva, Sunny Murray and poets Ted Joans & Don Lee teaming up with Algerian and Touareg musicians for some wonderful and haunting ethno new jazz."
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LP
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BYG 304LP
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2024 restock; Fourth volume in the BYG Actuel series; gatefold sleeve, 180 gram vinyl. "A great recording session for the French BYG Actuel label dated August 12, 1969. Tenor saxophonist Archie Shepp met up with members of the Chicago avant-garde school including Art Ensemble Of Chicago members Lester Bowie, Roscoe Mitchell and Malachi Favors. Featuring also Dave Burrell, Sunny Murray, Philly Joe Jones, Art Taylor, Clifford Thornton, Earl Freeman among the others."
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