Archie Shepp

• JAPANESE IMPORT

• IMPULSE - 60th ANNIVERSARY

• FREE JAZZ SAXOPHONE COLLECTION

• LIMITED EDITION SHM-CD (Super High Material CD)!

This is saxophonist Archie Shepp’s first album with a pianist and it brings an immediate accessibility to his music which was not there before. It is perhaps most obvious on the funky ”Frankenstein” by trombonist Grachan Moncour III who forms a three horn frontline together with Shepp and trumpeter Jimmy Owens.

It is not just that Shepp uses a pianist, the rhythm section is the most professional of all he had worked with up to that time. Pianist Walter Davis Jr had played with Art Blakey, and bassist Ron Carter had just left Miles Davis. The drum duties are split between Shepp’s regular drummer Beaver Harris, and Roy Haynes who have played with everyone from Charlie Parker and Sarah Vaughn to John Coltrane.

PERSONNEL:

• Archie Shepp - tenor sax
• Grachan Moncur III - trombone
• Jimmy Owens - trumpet
• Charles Davis - baritone sax
• Walter Davis Jr. - piano
• Dave Burrell - piano on tracks 5,6
• Ron Carter- bass
• Walter Booker - bass on tracks 5,6
• Beaver Harris, Roy Haynes - drums

New York, January 29, 1968

TRACKS:

• 01. Damn If I Know
• 02. Frankenstein
• 03. Fiesta
• 04. Sophisticated Lady