Attica Blues (album)

Attica Blues
Attica Blues
Studio album by Archie Shepp
Released	1972
Recorded	January 24–26, 1972
Studio	A&R Recording, New York
Genre	Jazz, post-bop, avant-garde jazz, big band, jazz poetry, funk
Label	Impulse! AS-9222
Producer	Ed Michel
Archie Shepp chronology

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	^[1]
Rolling Stone	favorable^[2]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide	^[3]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings	^[4]

Attica Blues is an album by avant-garde jazz saxophonist Archie Shepp. Originally released in 1972 on the Impulse! label, the album title refers to the Attica Prison riots.^[5]

Reception[]

The AllMusic review by Steve Huey states: "Attica Blues is one of Shepp's most successful large-group projects, because his skillful handling of so many different styles of black music produces such tremendously groovy results".^[6] Stephen Davis of Rolling Stone said that it was "not just a masterpiece of protest: [...] it is more a politico/religious experience, an appeal to higher human consciousness to, for God's sake, help us out of this torment."^[2]

Track listing[]

All compositions by Archie Shepp, except as indicated

"Attica Blues" (lyrics by Beaver Harris) – 4:49
"Invocation: Attica Blues" (Harris) – 0:18
"Steam, Part 1" – 5:08
"Invocation to Mr. Parker" (lyrics by Bart Gray) – 3:17
"Steam, Part 2" – 5:10
"Blues for Brother George Jackson" – 4:00
"Invocation: Ballad for a Child" (Harris) – 0:30
"Ballad for a Child" (lyrics by Harris) – 3:37
"Good-Bye Sweet Pops" (Cal Massey) – 4:23
"Quiet Dawn" (Massey) – 6:12

Recorded at A&R Recording, NYC, January 24–26, 1972 (Track timings slightly differ from one issue to another, due to merging tracks.)

Personnel[]

Archie Shepp - tenor saxophone (1, 6, 8, 10) and soprano saxophone (3, 5, 9)
Brass and reed section on tracks 1, 6, 9 and 10
- Clifford Thornton - cornet
- Roy Burrows, Charles McGhee, Michael Ridley - trumpet
- Charles Greenlee, Charles Stephens, Kiane Zawadi - trombone
- Hakim Jami - euphonium
- Clarence White - alto saxophone
- Roland Alexander, Billy Robinson - tenor saxophone
- James Ware - baritone saxophone
String section on tracks 1, 3, 5, and 8—10
- John Blake, Leroy Jenkins, Lakshinarayana Shankar - violin
- Ronald Lipscomb, Calo Scott - cello
Marion Brown - alto saxophone (1, 6), bamboo flute (3), flute (4), percussion (3—5)
Walter Davis, Jr. - electric piano (1, 6), piano (6, 8—10)
Dave Burrell - electric piano (3, 5)
Cornell Dupree - guitar (1, 3, 5, 8)
Roland Wilson (1, 3, 5–6, 8), Gerald Jemmott (1) - Fender bass
Jimmy Garrison - bass (3—5, 9, 10)
Beaver Harris (1, 3, 5–6, 8) - drums
Ollie Anderson, Nene DeFense, Juma Sultan - percussion (1, 6, 10)
Vocals
- Henry Hull (1, 8), Joe Lee Wilson (3, 5) - vocals
- William Kunstler (2, 7), Bartholomew Gray (4) - narrator
- Joshie Armstead, Albertine Robertson - backing vocals (1)
Featured exclusively on tracks 9 and 10, written by Cal Massey
- Romulus Franceschini - conductor and co-arranger
- Cal Massey - fluegelhorn (10)
- Waheeda Massey - vocals (10)
- Billy Higgins - drums

References[]

^ Allmusic review
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b Davis, Stephen (August 17, 1972). "Archie Shepp - Attica Blues". Rolling Stone (115). Retrieved 12 January 2016.
^ Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. pp. 179. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
^ Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 1290. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.
^ Bergstrom, John (1 April 2014). "Archie Shepp / Attica Blues Orchestra - I Hear the Sound". PopMatters. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
^ Huey, S. Allmusic Review, accessed June 25, 2009.

External links[]

[1] Allmusic review

[rollingstone-2] Jump up to: ^a ^b Davis, Stephen (August 17, 1972). "Archie Shepp - Attica Blues". Rolling Stone (115). Retrieved 12 January 2016.

[RSJRG-3] Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. pp. 179. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.

[Penguin-4] Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 1290. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.

[popmatters-5] Bergstrom, John (1 April 2014). "Archie Shepp / Attica Blues Orchestra - I Hear the Sound". PopMatters. Retrieved 12 January 2016.

[6] Huey, S. Allmusic Review, accessed June 25, 2009.

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show v t Archie Shepp
Years given are for the recording(s), not first release, unless stated otherwise.
Leader	Archie Shepp – Bill Dixon Quartet (1962) The House I Live In (and Lars Gullin, 1963) Four for Trane (1964) Fire Music (1965) On This Night (1965) New Thing at Newport (split album with John Coltrane, 1965) Archie Shepp Live in San Francisco (1966) Mama Too Tight (1966) The Magic of Ju-Ju (1967) For Losers (1968–69) Kwanza (1968–69) The Way Ahead (1968) Archie Shepp & Philly Joe Jones (1969) Black Gipsy (1969) Blasé (1969) Live at the Pan-African Festival (1969) Pitchin Can (1969–70) Poem for Malcolm (1969) Yasmina, a Black Woman (1969) Archie Shepp and the Full Moon Ensemble (1970) Coral Rock (1970) Doodlin' (1970) Things Have Got to Change (1971) Attica Blues (1972) The Cry of My People (1972) A Sea of Faces (1975) Bijou (1975) Body and Soul (Horo, 1975) Jazz a Confronto 27 (1975) Mariamar (1975) Montreux One (1975) Montreux Two (1975) There's a Trumpet in My Soul (1975) Hi-Fly (and Karin Krog, 1976) Steam (1976) Goin' Home (and Horace Parlan, 1977) On Green Dolphin Street (1977) Duet (and Dollar Brand, 1978) Lady Bird (1978) Looking at Bird (and Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, 1980) Trouble in Mind (and Horace Parlan, 1980) Mama Rose (and Jasper van 't Hof, 1982) Soul Song (1982) Down Home New York (1984) California Meeting: Live on Broadway (1985) Little Red Moon (1985) Duo Reunion (and Horace Parlan, 1987) Splashes (1987) Lover Man (and Annette Lowman, 1988) Body and Soul (and Richard Davis, Enja, 1989) Blue Ballads (1995)
New York Contemporary Five	Archie Shepp & the New York Contemporary Five (1963) Consequences (1963) Rufus (1963) Bill Dixon 7-tette/ Archie Shepp and the New York Contemporary 5 (1964)
With Cecil Taylor	Air (1960) The World of Cecil Taylor (1960) Cell Walk for Celeste (1961) New York City R&B (originally Buell Neidlinger, 1961) Jumpin' Punkins (1961)
With others	A Love Supreme (John Coltrane, 1964) Ascension/The Major Works of John Coltrane (John Coltrane, 1965) Echo (Dave Burrell, 1969) One Down (Material, 1982) You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 4 (Frank Zappa, 1982–84)
Discography

show v t Dave Burrell
Years given are for the recording(s), not first release.
As leader or co-leader	High Won-High Two (1968) Echo (1969) La Vie de Bohème (released 1969) After Love (1970) In: Sanity (The 360 Degree Music Experience, 1976) Dave Burrell Plays Ellington & Monk (1978) Lush Life (1978) Windward Passages (hatART, 1979) The Jelly Roll Joys (1990) Recital (and Tyrone Brown, 2000) Consequences (2005) Margy Pargy (2005) Momentum (2005)
With David Murray	Hope Scope (1987) Ballads (1988) Deep River (1988) Lovers (1988) Lucky Four (1988) Spirituals (1988) Tenors (1988) Daybreak (Burrell, 1989) Remembrances (1990) Death of a Sideman (1991) In Concert (1991) Picasso (1992) Brother to Brother (1993)
With Archie Shepp	For Losers (1968–69) Kwanza (1968–69) The Way Ahead (1968) Black Gipsy (1969) Blasé (1969) Live at the Pan-African Festival (1969) Pitchin Can (1969–70) Yasmina, a Black Woman (1969) Things Have Got to Change (1971) Attica Blues (1972) The Cry of My People (1972) A Sea of Faces (1975) Body and Soul (1975) Jazz a Confronto 27 (1975) Montreux One (1975) Montreux Two (1975) There's a Trumpet in My Soul (1975) U-Jaama (Unite) (1975) Lover Man (1988)
With others	Three for Shepp (Marion Brown, 1966) I Plan to Stay a Believer (William Parker, 2001–08) Essence of Ellington (William Parker, 2012) Epitome (Odean Pope, 1993) Black Woman (Sonny Sharrock, 1969)