Prime Archie Shepp from 1981. Lost recording.

[Adam]

New release. Prime Archie Shepp from 1981. Lost recording.

hatOLOGY 598

Archie Shepp

I Know About The Life

I Know About The Life is an excellent example of Shepp's methods in this endeavor. They prove to be equally effective whether the vehicle is the jaunty «Well, You Needn't,»

the athletic «Giant Steps» or the alluring «'Round Midnight.» On the uptempo Monk tune, Shepp veers between the bellicose and the gleeful with raspy honks, smeary bent notes, and strategically placed dips and surges in intensity. In running the daunting harmonic gauntlet of the Coltrane classic, Shepp frequently skids across the bar lines with textures that growl and chortle, while his hollers and snorts are crucial to his blistering duo exchange with John Betsch. His sighs and moans on the Monk ballad bring the piece's sub-text of yearning into bold relief. In each case, Shepp makes the post-modernist concession that nothing is new, even as he reinvigorates decades-old aspects of the tenor tradition. Bill Shoemaker

Archie Shepp tenor saxophone

Ken Werner piano

Santie Debriano double bass

John Betsch drums

1 Well You Needn't 8:50

by Thelonius Monk

2 I Know About The Life 13:51

by Archie Shepp

3 Giant Steps 8:08

by John Coltrane

4 Round Midnight 12:11

by Thelonius Monk

Total Time ADD 43:00

Recorded by Phil Sheridan at McClear Place Studios, Toronto on February 11 1981;

Mix, CEDAR processing and CD master by Peter Pfister, January 2003;

Cover photo by Hal Rammel; Liner notes by Bill Shoemaker;

Graphic concept by fuhrer vienna;

Produced by Bill Smith & John Norris;

Executive production by Werner X. Uehlinger.

Special thanks to Patrick Kaiser, Bill Smith & John Norris. Reissue of the Sackville CD 3026.

[JSngry]

I remember, but don't have, this one. Pretty good. Not GREAT, but I'm looking forward to hearing it again. The title cut is pretty cool, too. Think I prefer the "'Round Midnight" on DOWNHOME NEW YORK, the eptitome of "ugly beauty", but hey, it's been a while.

I don't know what "lost" means, though.

[king ubu]

How does this compare to "Soul Song"? I found that one quite a bore... and the line up is similar, so...

ubu

[Tom in RI]

Not sure what's lost about this, it was put out originally as Sackville 3026. Seems to me there may have been a film documantary connected to this also.

[paul secor]

I'm an Archie Shepp fan, and there's no way I'd call this "Prime Shepp". I bought the Sackville LP when it was released, and sold it shortly thereafter.

There's plenty of great to good Shepp out there, but to my tastes this doesn't fall within those assessments. I'm somewhat surprised that Hatology is reissuing this.

Edited August 20, 2003 by paul secor

[SEK]

Not sure what's lost about this, it was put out originally as Sackville 3026. Seems to me there may have been a film documantary connected to this also.

I agree that this session was not ever "lost" and not "Prime Archie Shepp" by any stretch of the imagination.

It was excerpted in a film, "Imagine the Sound", directed by Ron Mann and released in cooperation with Bill Smith and other folks then associated with "Coda" magazine in Toronto. The high point in that film, for me, was not from this lackluster session, or even from an amazing Cecil Taylor solo session, but from a unique and dramatic trio session with Bill Dixon, Art Davis and Freddie Waits. Bill Smith wanted to release that session as an LP, but he somehow irritated Bill Dixon (which I understand is not the hardest thing to do). The result is that this is a lost recording for us.

[WD45]

There is a review on the Dusted website today.

Dusted