Attica Blues (album)

Attica Blues is an album by avant-garde jazz saxophonist Archie Shepp. Originally released in 1972 on the Impulse! label, the album title is a reference to the Attica Prison riots.[4]

Attica Blues
Studio album by
Released1972
RecordedJanuary 24–26, 1972
StudioA&R Recording, New York
GenreJazz, post-bop, avant-garde jazz, big band, jazz poetry, funk
LabelImpulse! AS-9222
ProducerEd Michel
Archie Shepp chronology
Things Have Got to Change
(1971)
Attica Blues
(1972)
The Cry of My People
(1972)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
Rolling Stonefavorable[2]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide[3]

Reception

The Allmusic review by Steve Huey states: "Attica Blues is one of Shepp's most successful large-group projects, because his skillful handling of so many different styles of black music produces such tremendously groovy results".[5] Stephen Davis of Rolling Stone said that it was "not just a masterpiece of protest: [...] it is more a politico/religious experience, an appeal to higher human consciousness to, for God's sake, help us out of this torment."[2]

Track listing

All compositions by Archie Shepp except as indicated
  1. "Attica Blues" (lyrics by Beaver Harris) – 4:49
  2. "Invocation: Attica Blues" (Harris) – 0:18
  3. "Steam, Part 1" – 5:08
  4. "Invocation to Mr. Parker" (lyrics by Bart Gray) – 3:17
  5. "Steam, Part 2" – 5:10
  6. "Blues for Brother George Jackson" – 4:00
  7. "Invocation: Ballad for a Child" (Harris) – 0:30
  8. "Ballad for a Child" (lyrics by Harris) – 3:37
  9. "Good-Bye Sweet Pops" (Cal Massey) – 4:23
  10. "Quiet Dawn" (Massey) – 6:12
Recorded at A&R Recording, NYC, January 24–26, 1972
(Track timings slightly differ from one issue to another, due to merging tracks.)

Personnel

References

  1. Allmusic review
  2. Davis, Stephen (August 17, 1972). "Archie Shepp - Attica Blues". Rolling Stone (115). Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  3. Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. pp. 179. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
  4. Bergstrom, John (1 April 2014). "Archie Shepp / Attica Blues Orchestra - I Hear the Sound". PopMatters. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  5. Huey, S. Allmusic Review, accessed June 25, 2009.
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