Shepp/Litweiler - DB 11.07.74

[JSngry]

[Michael Weiss]

Nice backwards photo on page one

[JSngry]

Which I guess raises the question - who was Boston Moody?

[mjzee]

Does anyone have a photo of Shepp smiling?

[paul secor]

Thanks for reprinting the article, Jim. I recall reading and enjoying it when it was first published.

edit: And I definitely thank John for writing the article.

Edited May 31, 2015 by paul secor

[JSngry]

Does anyone have a photo of Shepp smiling?

[paul secor]

[paul secor]

Jim: Any chance you have a copy of John's Down Beat article on Cecil Taylor at Wisconsin U. and could post it? That was another classic.

[JSngry]

I think I do...I suppose at some point I should ask John if he's cool with all this?

[paul secor]

Probably the right thing to do.

[Leeway]

Does anyone have a photo of Shepp smiling?

Admittedly, not a common sight.

[fasstrack]

Does anyone have a photo of Shepp smiling?

This recording is anathama, at least to me, b/c it features two dear friends, Clarence C. Sharpe and wife China Lynne Perault. They're given the tune of I Got it Bad, but unfortunately Shepp plays an obnoxious obligatto over both the vocal and C's alto solo and ruins the track.

[JSngry]

That's my favorite Shepp record, ever. "Concept record" from start to finish.

[clifford_thornton]

Yeah, it's pretty awesome.

[JSngry]

Who gives a damn for losers?

Intonation as a weapon of mass destruction. I'm a fan.

[Quasimado]

Fasstrack said: This recording (For Losers) is anathama, at least to me, b/c it features two dear friends, Clarence C. Sharpe and wife China Lynne Perault. They're given the tune of I Got it Bad, but unfortunately Shepp plays an obnoxious obbligato over both the vocal and C's alto solo and ruins the track.

I hear you man. That is pretty sad. He couldn't play at that time - but to his credit, he learned.

Q

[johnblitweiler]

Dang. When I was young I used to know who Boston Moody was.

[Larry Kart]

Does anyone have a photo of Shepp smiling?

This recording is anathama, at least to me, b/c it features two dear friends, Clarence C. Sharpe and wife China Lynne Perault. They're given the tune of I Got it Bad, but unfortunately Shepp plays an obnoxious obligatto over both the vocal and C's alto solo and ruins the track.

Judge for yourselves, Organissmo-ites:

I'd say Fasstrack has a point.

[JSngry]

And I'd agree (that he has a point). Everybody has their points.

I'd also add that such point has no relevance to my lifestyle and/or life whatsoever.

[JSngry]

The cut after that one on the LP, this most beautiful of Cal Massey compositions (not fully revealed to me until as heard sung as by Joe Lee Wilson with Shepp on A Touch Of The Blues).

A perfect end to Side 1 of an LP called For Losers that opens with two nastyass hardfunk grooves, then ends on two hardballad jams and then turns the side over to Everybody Loves A Winner, Especially When He's Thinner.

Up and down, like a clown. Who gives a damn for losers?

Getting or not getting the point was the whole point.

Hello funkyjazzrecord that pretty ALMOST gets the bass level up to where it would otherwise be if not for jazz.

I get the whole "Shepp eventually learned how to play"" thing, but...he could already play one vocabulary quite well. It was just a question of redirecting into a more specific grammar.

[mjzee]

Does anyone have a photo of Shepp smiling?

This recording is anathama, at least to me, b/c it features two dear friends, Clarence C. Sharpe and wife China Lynne Perault. They're given the tune of I Got it Bad, but unfortunately Shepp plays an obnoxious obligatto over both the vocal and C's alto solo and ruins the track.

Judge for yourselves, Organissmo-ites:

I'd say Fasstrack has a point.

Wow, that track's a mess. The singer's kinda pitchy, the pianist isn't listening to anyone, the mix sounds amateurish, and Shepp's just awful. C. Sharpe comes off the best; too bad it wasn't his date.

[Quasimado]

I get the whole "Shepp eventually learned how to play"" thing, but...he could already play one vocabulary quite well. It was just a question of redirecting into a more specific grammar.

Sure Jim - whatever you say ...

Q

[JSngry]

You don't hear the command of that raspy tone all over the horn, the altisssimo, the subtone, and how he was playing the changes on the ballads and owning the blues/funk declarations?

He couldn't "play changes" for shit (and still usually sounds mechanically neutered when/if he does), but he could play songs very well.

I don't hear anything here that is not in service to his vision of the song, and I hear the song very clearly.

When a cat really can't play, it comes out in a lack of control between registers, inconsistent control over tone, fingers fumbling between notes, all that basic shit. What I hear in Shepp is a very focused delivery of some very specific ideas, of which "playing changes" in the bebop sense is not a priority. But on these ballads, he's following the changes, because he's into playing the song, working the melody. I can't hear it as being anything but that, really..

Now, sure, when he started playing straight-up bebop, that was awkwardly uncomfortably sadfunny, because he was so /NOT about connecting the eight notes in a linear and ongoing manner, he didn't really know how to do it and even after he learned how to do it, I always thought that he must have needed to do that for himself, because he sure didn't need to do it for me. He always reached me best as a "statement" player, a dramatist, and I really didn't care if he could play lines on Ornithology or not, plenty of other people can do that, not everybody could play "The Chased". etc.

[jlhoots]

I suppose I shouldn't bring this up, but I like the Venus CDs - & not just the photos on the covers.

[JSngry]

Yeah, so do I. Ballads, songs, wheelhouse!