Mama Too Tight

Last updated
Mama Too Tight
Mama Too Tight.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedJuly 1967 [1]
RecordedAugust 19, 1966
Studio Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ
Genre Jazz, avant-garde jazz, free jazz, hard bop
Length37:43
Label Impulse!
Producer Bob Thiele
Archie Shepp chronology
Archie Shepp Live in San Francisco
(1966)
Mama Too Tight
(1967)
The Magic of Ju-Ju
(1967)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [2]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [3]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [4]

Mama Too Tight is an album by Archie Shepp released on Impulse! Records in 1967. The album contains tracks recorded by Shepp, trumpeter Tommy Turrentine, trombonists Grachan Moncur III and Roswell Rudd, tuba player Howard Johnson, clarinetist Perry Robinson, bassist Charlie Haden and drummer Beaver Harris in August of 1966.

Contents

Reception

The AllMusic review by Thom Jurek states: "Shepp had hit his stride here compositionally... lots of free blowing, angry bursts of energy, and shouts of pure revelry are balanced with Ellingtonian elegance and restraint that was considerable enough to let the lyric line float through and encourage more improvisation. This is Shepp at his level best." [2]

Track listing

Side 1
1. A Portrait Of Robert Thompson (as a young man)
Introducing
a) Prelude to a Kiss (Duke Ellington, Irving Gordon, Irving Mills)
b) The Break Strain-King Cotton (public domain)
c) Dem Basses (public domain) - 18:57
Side 2
1. Mama Too Tight - 5:25
2. Theme for Ernie (Fred Lacey) - 3:21
3. Basheer - 10:38

All compositions by Archie Shepp except as indicated

Personnel

Related Research Articles

Grachan Moncur III was an American jazz trombonist. He was the son of jazz bassist Grachan Moncur II and the nephew of jazz saxophonist Al Cooper.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dave Burrell</span> American jazz pianist

Herman Davis "Dave" Burrell is an American jazz pianist. He has played with many jazz musicians including Archie Shepp, Pharoah Sanders, Marion Brown and David Murray.

William Godvin "Beaver" Harris was an American jazz drummer who worked extensively with Archie Shepp.

<i>Escalator over the Hill</i> 1971 studio album by Carla Bley and Paul Haines

Escalator over the Hill is mostly referred to as a jazz opera, but it was released as a "chronotransduction", with "words by Paul Haines, adaptation and music by Carla Bley, production and coordination by Michael Mantler", performed by the Jazz Composer's Orchestra.

<i>Liberation Music Orchestra</i> (album) 1970 studio album by Charlie Haden

Liberation Music Orchestra is a band and jazz album by Charlie Haden released in 1970, Haden's first as a band leader.

<i>The Jazz Composers Orchestra</i> (album) 1968 studio album by Jazz Composers Orchestra

The Jazz Composer's Orchestra is a 1968 album by the Jazz Composer's Orchestra recorded over a period of six months with Michael Mantler as composer, leader and producer. Many of the key figures in avant-garde jazz from the time contributed on the album including Don Cherry, Pharoah Sanders, Gato Barbieri, Larry Coryell, Roswell Rudd, and Carla Bley. The album's finale features a two-part concerto for Cecil Taylor and orchestra.

<i>Archie Shepp Live in San Francisco</i> 1966 live album by Archie Shepp

Archie Shepp Live in San Francisco is a live album by Archie Shepp released on Impulse! Records in 1966. The album contains a performance recorded by Shepp, trombonist Roswell Rudd, bassists Donald Garrett and Lewis Worrell and drummer Beaver Harris at the now defunct Both/And Club in San Francisco, CA, on February 19, 1966. The CD edition also contains an extended track that was released on LP as Three for a Quarter, One for a Dime in 1969.

<i>The Way Ahead</i> (album) 1968 studio album by Archie Shepp

The Way Ahead is an album by Archie Shepp, released on Impulse! Records in 1968. The album contains tracks recorded by Shepp, trumpeter Jimmy Owens, trombonist Grachan Moncur III, pianist Walter Davis Jr., bassist Ron Carter and drummers Roy Haynes and Beaver Harris in January 1968 with two additional tracks featuring baritone saxophonist Charles Davis, pianist Dave Burrell and bassist Walter Booker recorded in February 1969, and first released on Kwanza (1974), added to the CD release.

<i>Things Have Got to Change</i> 1971 studio album by Archie Shepp

Things Have Got to Change is an album by avant-garde jazz saxophonist Archie Shepp released in 1971 on the Impulse! label. The album features a performance by Shepp with a large ensemble and vocal choir. The album "solidified the saxophonists reputation as a soulful, yet radical free jazz artist motivated by social commentary and cultural change".

<i>Kwanza</i> (album) 1974 studio album by Archie Shepp

Kwanza is an album by Archie Shepp released on Impulse! in 1974. The album contains tracks recorded from September 1968 to August 1969 by Shepp with four different ensembles.

<i>For Losers</i> 1970 studio album by Archie Shepp

For Losers is an album by Archie Shepp released on Impulse! in 1970. The album contains tracks recorded from September 1968 to August 1969 by Shepp with three different ensembles. The AllMusic review by Rob Ferrier states "for anyone wishing to understand the music and career of this brilliant musician, this is an undervalued piece of the puzzle".

<i>Theres a Trumpet in My Soul</i> 1975 studio album by Archie Shepp

There's a Trumpet in My Soul is an album by avant-garde jazz saxophonist Archie Shepp released in 1975 on the Arista Freedom label.

<i>Mixed</i> (album) 1998 compilation album by Cecil Taylor/Roswell Rudd

Mixed is a compilation album of two avant-garde jazz sessions featuring performances by the Cecil Taylor Unit and the Roswell Rudd Sextet. The album was released on the Impulse! label in 1998 and collects three performances by Taylor with Archie Shepp, Jimmy Lyons, Henry Grimes and Sunny Murray with Ted Curson and Roswell Rudd added on one track which were originally released under Gil Evans' name on Into the Hot (1961). The remaining tracks feature Rudd with Giuseppi Logan, Lewis Worrell, Charlie Haden, Beaver Harris and Robin Kenyatta and were originally released as Everywhere (1966). Essentially these are the three Cecil Taylor tracks from the "Gil Evans album" teamed with Roswell Rudd's Impulse album Everywhere, in its entirety.

<i>A Sea of Faces</i> 1975 studio album by Archie Shepp

A Sea of Faces is an album by avant-garde jazz saxophonist Archie Shepp recorded in Milan, Italy, on August 4 and 5, 1975, and released on the Italian Black Saint label. It features performances by Shepp with Charles Greenlee, Dave Burrell, Cameron Brown, Beaver Harris, Rafi Taha and Bunny Foy.

<i>Numatik Swing Band</i> 1973 live album by Roswell Rudd & The Jazz Composers Orchestra

Numatik Swing Band is a live album by Roswell Rudd and the Jazz Composer's Orchestra released on the JCOA label in 1973.

<i>Everywhere</i> (Roswell Rudd album) 1967 studio album by Roswell Rudd

Everywhere is an album by American jazz trombonist Roswell Rudd featuring studio performances recorded in July 1966 for the Impulse! label.

<i>Three for Shepp</i> 1967 studio album by Marion Brown

Three for Shepp is an album by American saxophonist Marion Brown featuring performances recorded in 1966 for the Impulse! label.

<i>The New Wave in Jazz</i> 1965 live album by Various

The New Wave in Jazz is a live album recorded on March 28, 1965 at the Village Gate in New York City. It features groups led by major avant-garde jazz artists performing at a concert for the benefit of The Black Arts Repertory Theater/School founded by Amiri Baraka, then known as LeRoi Jones. The album was released on LP in 1965 on the Impulse! label, and was reissued on CD in 1994 with a different track listing.

<i>Live in New York</i> (Archie Shepp and Roswell Rudd album) 2001 live album by Archie Shepp and Roswell Rudd

Live in New York is a live album by saxophonist Archie Shepp and trombonist Roswell Rudd. It was recorded in September 2000 at the Jazz Standard in New York City and released by Verve Records in 2001 as part of its Soundscape Series. Shepp and Rudd are accompanied by trombonist Grachan Moncur III, bassist Reggie Workman and drummer Andrew Cyrille. They are joined on one track by poet Amiri Baraka.

<i>Echoes of Prayer</i> 1975 studio album by Grachan Moncur III and the Jazz Composers Orchestra

Echoes of Prayer is an album by trombonist and composer Grachan Moncur III on which he is joined by members of the Jazz Composer's Orchestra and the Tanawa Dance Ensemble. It was recorded on April 11, 1974, at Blue Rock Studio in New York City, and was released in 1975 by JCOA Records. Moncur's only recorded work for large ensemble, Echoes of Prayer was commissioned by the JCOA, and consists of four movements dedicated to Martin Luther King Jr., Medgar Evers, Marcus Garvey, and Angela Davis. It was initially performed at a workshop concert at New York University's Loeb Student Center on the day before the recording session.

References

  1. "Billboard". July 29, 1967.
  2. 1 2 AllMusic Review
  3. Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 1289. ISBN   978-0-141-03401-0.
  4. Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide . USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. pp.  179. ISBN   0-394-72643-X.