John
Coltrane/Archie Shepp: New Thing at Newport
LP: Impulse AS-94
CD: Impulse 3145434142
Tracks & Performers (Composers) [CD
Tracks]
1 Intro to Coltrane's set
2 One Down, One Up - John Coltrane Quartet (Coltrane)
3 My Favorite Things - John Coltrane Quartet (Rodgers, Hammerstein) /
Spoken Conclusion
4 Intro to Shepp's set
5 Gingerbread, Gingerbread Boy - Archie Shepp Quartet (Shepp)
6 Call Me by My Rightful Name - Archie Shepp Quartet (Shepp)
7 Scag - Archie Shepp Quartet (Shepp)
8 Rufus (Swung His Face at Last to Wind, Then His Neck Snapped) - Archie
Shepp Quartet (Shepp)
9 Le Matin des Noire - Archie Shepp Quartet (Shepp)
Hutcherson on tracks 5-9
Personnel (Tracks 5-9)
Archie Shepp (ts); Bobby Hutcherson (vib); Barre Phillips (b); Joe Chambers
(d)
Recording Date & Location
2 July 1965, Newport, RI
The original New Thing at Newport LP consisted of tracks 1, 2,
and 6-9. Track 5 originally was issued on Archie Shepp's On
This Night (Impulse A-97).
Commentary
To my ears, Archie Shepp’s music sounds like a unique combination
of wildly disparate influences: down-home blues, austere classicism, theatrical
drama, black nationalism, plus Shepp’s highly vocalized saxophone tones—somewhat
like Eric Dolphy on tenor. Heady stuff. This may not be easy listening,
but it is immensely rewarding. Hutcherson’s contributions are excellent,
but Shepp dominates this music. I don’t know of anyone else who makes
music like him.
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