Archie Shepp – Blasé (White vinyl)
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Archie Shepp - Tenor Saxophone [click here to see more vinyl featuring Archie Shepp]
Drums – "Philly" Joe Jones (A1-2, B2-3) [click here to see more vinyl featuring Philly Joe Jones]
Vocal – Jeanne Lee (A1 to B2)
Bass – Malachi Favors
Harmonica – Chicago Beau (A1-2), Julio Finn (A1-2)
Piano – Dave Burrell (A1 to B2)
Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Lester Bowie (B1)
Arranged by Archie Shepp
Written by Archie Shepp (A1 to B1, B3), Duke Ellington (B2), Irving Mills (B2)
1LP, gatefold jacket
Limited edition
Original analog Master tape : YES
Heavy Press : 180g
Record color : White
Speed : 33 RPM
Size : 12'’
Stereo
Studio
Record Press : unspecified
Label : Charly
Original Label : BYG Actuel
Recorded August 16, 1969 at Studios Davout, Paris, France
Engineered by Claude Jauvert
Original session produced by Jean Georgakarakos
Executive Producer – Claude Delcloo
Remaster and restoration by Nick Robbins
Reissue produced by Geoffrey Young and Jean-Luc Young
Lacquer cut by Alchemy Mastering at AIR Studios
Graphic Design by Phil Rogers
Liner notes by Kevin Le Gendre
Photography by Jacques Bisceglia
Originally released in 1969
Reissued in 2023
Tracks :
Side A:
- My Angel
- Blasé
Side B:
- There Is a Balm in Gilead
- Sophisticated Lady
- Touareg
Reviews :
The three albums tenor saxophonist Archie Shepp recorded in Paris for BYG Records during one week in August 1969 tend to get overlooked in the slipstream of the dozen or so he made in the US for Impulse earlier in the decade. More is the pity, for as Blasé And Yasmina Revisited so resoundingly attests, the BYGs contain some of the most audacious, many splendored and deep roots music that Shepp has recorded in his still-kicking career (at the time of writing, it has just been announced that Shepp will perform at London's Barbican in November 2021 accompanied by pianist Jason Moran).
Part of the Swiss-based ezz-thetics label's Revisited series of remastered avant-garde classics from the 1960s, Blasé And Yasmina Revisited covers two of the BYG LPs: Blasé, in its entirety, and the side-long title track of Yasmina, A Black Woman. The mix 'n' match cast of players Shepp assembled for the albums, from American musicians who happened to be in Paris at the time, range from New Thing radicals such as himself, pianist Dave Burrell and drummer Sunny Murray, fellow travelers trumpeter Lester Bowie, saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell and bassist Malachi Favors from the Art Ensemble Of Chicago, hard-bop drum masters Philly Joe Jones and Art Taylor, Chicago bluesman, harmonica player Julio Finn, and in a category-defying class of her own, the singer Jeanne Lee. (Also present on Yasmina, A Black Woman, but not heard on the title track, is hard-bop tenor player Hank Mobley).
The six tracks on the ezz-thetics album tell the story of African American jazz from its African roots through the blues and swing and on to the New Thing. For convenience, they can be considered here in three parts. First up are the four tracks featuring the divine Miss Lee: two Shepp originals, "My Angel," a primal Delta blues in which Shepp somehow twice transforms his tenor sound momentarily into that of Elmore Leonard's slide guitar, and "Blasé," a skeletal and sepulchral retro-modern roots workout; the traditional spiritual "There Is A Balm In Gilead," which includes trumpet obbligatos going on solos from Lester Bowie; and Duke Ellington's sensual ballad "Sophisticated Lady," which is featured in the YouTube clip below. Lee reaches inside each of these varied songs to reveal breathtaking degrees of beauty. They are her tracks as much as they are Shepp's.
The second of the album's three parts is Blasé's closing 9:18 track, "Touareg." On the preceding Lee tracks, Shepp's solos were foreshortened to accommodate the vocals. He turns in terrific ones on "My Angel" and "Sophisticated Lady," but none of the extended, visceral, sonic adventures for which he was at the time best known. "Touareg," on which he is accompanied only by Malachi Favors and Philly Joe Jones, delivers that.” All About Jazz Review by Chris May
Ratings :
AllMusic : 4 / 5 , Discogs : 4.71 / 5