May 20, 2010

Archie Shepp — Soul Song

barabara sounds sez:
More Shepp, this is one of my favorite albums of his, all modal sweeps and swoops, propelled by a great, dynamic rhythm section with Marvin "Bugalu" Smith going all out on drums and Kenner Werner on keyboards. I love the extended gospel incantations of Mama Rose and the long modal improv of Geechee. But the highlight (IMHO) is the stately title track, with Werner matching Shepp start to finish — all in 4 short powerful minutes. There's a bonus track on this CD reissue, My Romance, on which Shepp gets all lyrical. This was laid down in Germany in 1982. I do wish I'd seen him in this era, but I only managed to catch him later on.
Yawno disagrees — but there again, his reviews are almost always disagreeable ;-)

Since it's still available from enja here, this one is only up strictly short-term.
Grab it while you can coz it won't be here long. And now it's gone.


AMG (Scott Yawno) sez:
This is one of Archie Shepp's more erratic sets. On the 15-minute "Mama Rose," the great tenor... plays his somewhat out-of-tune soprano and takes an eccentric vocal..The 18-minute "Geechee" is a fine, lengthy workout for Shepp's emotional tenor...

Personnel: Archie Shepp soprano & tenor sax, vocals; Kenny Werner piano; Santi Debriano bass; Marvin "Bugalu" Smith drums

Tracks: 1. Mama Rose; 2. Soul Song; 3. Geechee; 4. My Romance


11 comments:

yotte said...

Hey THANKS! I forgot I wanted to check this out.

taro nombei said...

@ Yotte
Always happy to remind you to remember what you forgot... ;-)

Unknown said...

could you chek the first track?
i got error extracting the first track
Thanks

taro nombei said...

MF playing up again...
I'll reup as soon as I can.

yotte said...

Hey luc,
Try a different extraction software. I sometimes have to try two or three before I find one that opens the file properly. Track 1 extracted just fine for me (if I remember correctly). ;-)

Thanks for the Apple Lossless rip, taro. great stuff!

taro nombei said...

@ yotte
thanks for the input.
I don't have problems unpacking these files, so it might be an apple/pc anomaly.

E-mile said...

TN, already have this one...to be frank, I've never bought or heard an album by Archie Shepp that disappointed me [:-) this album is another proof of that!
peace, E-mile

taro nombei said...

I agree, E-mile, and no doubt that's why I've accumulated so many Shepp albums over the years...
cheers!

winton tostello said...

yawno! lol!!
by the way, thanks for the lp...

taro nombei said...

@ winton tostello
glad you like it... the album too ;-)
cheers!

SlimStew said...

Thae groove that DeBriano and Bugalu get on Soul Song is unreal! I saw this band a cou;pla times back then--one of Shepp's best, imo.