Attica Blues (album)

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Attica Blues
Studio album by
Archie Shepp
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]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings[4]
Pitchfork9.3/10[5]

Attica Blues is an album by avant-garde jazz saxophonist Archie Shepp. Originally released in 1972 on the Impulse! label, the album title refers to the Attica Prison riots.[6]

Reception[edit]

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".[7] 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[edit]

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[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Allmusic review
  2. ^ a b Davis, Stephen (August 17, 1972). "Archie Shepp - Attica Blues". Rolling Stone. No. 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. ^ Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 1290. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.
  5. ^ Chinen, Nate. "Archie Shepp: Attica Blues Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved April 17, 2022.
  6. ^ Bergstrom, John (1 April 2014). "Archie Shepp / Attica Blues Orchestra - I Hear the Sound". PopMatters. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  7. ^ Huey, S. Allmusic Review, accessed June 25, 2009.

External links[edit]

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