Attica Blues (album)

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
Things Have Got to Change (1971) Attica Blues (1972) The Cry of My People (1972)

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]
Pitchfork	9.3/10 [5]

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. ^[6]

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". ^[7] 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

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

1. Allmusic review
2. Davis, Stephen (August 17, 1972). "Archie Shepp - Attica Blues". Rolling Stone . No. 115. Retrieved January 12, 2016.
3. Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide . USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. pp.  179. ISBN   0-394-72643-X.
4. Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 1290. ISBN   978-0-141-03401-0.
5. Chinen, Nate. "Archie Shepp: Attica Blues Album Review". Pitchfork . Retrieved April 17, 2022.
6. Bergstrom, John (April 1, 2014). "Archie Shepp / Attica Blues Orchestra - I Hear the Sound". PopMatters . Retrieved January 12, 2016.
7. Huey, S. Allmusic Review, accessed June 25, 2009.

External links

• BBC Music Review, Attica Blues
• Allmusic Review, Attica Blues