BCB's Songs: Archie Shepp - 'Attica Blues'

[fange]

Archie Shepp - 'Attica Blues'



I'm not sure what a song written as a response to a huge and terrifying U.S. prison riot that claimed more than 40 lives should sound like, but for my money 'Attica Blues' sure makes a compelling case for being Exhibit A in any case.

By '72 Shepp had assimilated pretty much all of the Black American musical styles into the music he was creating, and it all comes together into one monstrous, explosive song - 50 years compacted into 4 minutes and 50 seconds. Steaming R&B and funk from the rhythm section; soul and gospel from the vocalists; a big band horn section; a beautifully arranged string section; jazz soloing underlying and streaming through it all; and lyrics courtesy of drummer Beaver Harris that tell of both anger and outrage as well as hope and human rights and dignity.

The cresting, crashing highs of the music ebb and flow like, well, a battle. A tension and release, a recurring theme, driving the point home over and over, in slightly different ways. Every child would do more than just dream on a star.

[Darkness_Fish]

Ooh, fange posts something by an artist I have at least one album by. No surprise that I prefer his more stripped down, jazzier styling, but this ain't bad by any means. Again, there's a helluva lot of ambition to this track, and a lot thrown into the mix. But it still sounds properly earthy, gritty and real to me. That trombone meandering around in the background is a thing of beauty.

Yeah, actually, I like that track a lot, good pick.

[harvey k-tel]

I love this track. It's so unrelenting. Whenever it comes on shuffle in the car I crank it right up.

[Bent Fabric]

That's incredible.

Something to be said for the way it sort of "surrenders" at the very end.

[fange]

Something to be said for the way it sort of "surrenders" at the very end.

That's a good way to put; it's like the musical equivalent of waving your jazz hands in the air, a cathartic shaking off of something. Or maybe at the end of a gospel song, when the band and congregation just wind down and finish off with a few stray notes, bangs and exhausted oooohs.

It's incredible to think, but there are at least 20 singers and musicians on this song!

[Spock!]

Not heard this before, it's an absolute gem. Thanks for posting.

[The Modernist]

It's terrific. It's more psych soul than anything else, but what energy. An absolutely explosive track.

[fange]

Ooh, fange posts something by an artist I have at least one album by...
Yeah, actually, I like that track a lot, good pick.

Thanks for this bit of magic!

Not heard this before, it's an absolute gem. Thanks for posting.

I'm so damn happy to turn people on to this song, as it's one of my all-time personal faves too.

It's also great that he's still alive and working hard to this day; here's a piece on him from earlier this month...


http://www.ubspectrum.com/article/2017/12/archie-shepp

[Osgood]

You can count me in the converts herd. Fantastic stuff. Love that trombone appearing around 1:45. The poll should have a fuckin' great option.

[fange]

The freewheeling bass is delightful.

2 basses, in fact! One was Jerry Jemmott, who played a lot in King Curtis' live shows and records, and the other i can't remember right now.

I can't wait to turn my friends on to this and claim I discovered it.

Enjoy!

[clive gash]

It’s not even the best thing on Freedom Rhythm and Sound

[fange]

It’s not even the best thing on Freedom Rhythm and Sound

There's some stiff completion on that set, that's for sure!

[toomanyhatz]

Yep, I concur with everything said here so far. Marvelous! Yay, fange!

[Ranking Ted]

This is fabulous, fange. Love it.

Have you heard this which clearly is heavily based on Attica Blues?

[fange]

Yes, i vaguely remember that! It got a bit of play in the early 90s in clubs, but the only Galliano album i've ever had is ...13th note so i don't think i ever knew who it was. Cheers Ted.

[Rayge]

I never knew Shepp did anything other than post-bebop jazz, so that's a revelation.
I really want to love it, but I can't, quite. I mean, the horns are fine, and the vocalists pretty good, although they might as well have been scatting throughout for all that I understood any of it; I think my problem is with something that others have picked out as the best feature, that bass throwing its weight about, and the 'funk'. And was that a wah wah pedal at the end? O tempera, o mores...
6.5 / 10