The Way Ahead (Album)

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The Way Ahead
Archie Shepp's studio album

Publication
(s)

1968

Label (s) Impulses! Records

Format (s)

LP / CD

Genre (s)

jazz

Title (number)

4/6

running time

60:07

occupation

production

Bob Thiele & Michael Cuscuna (Re-Issue)

Studio (s)

RCA Victor Studios, New York City (1–4), National Recording Studios, NYC (5–6)

chronology
Freedom
(1967) 		The Way Ahead Yasmina - A Black Woman
(1969)

The Way Ahead is a jazz album by Archie Shepp , recorded on January 29, 1968 and on Impulse! Records released.

The album

The Way Ahead is Archie Shepp's first album with piano accompaniment; it draws on the atmosphere of the music of Duke Ellington and Ben Webster , circles the bebop and finally takes place in the turbulent, freer aesthetics of the 1960s. “Shepp seems to be exploring the potential of free solo playing over more conventional, consistently harmonic structures. It fits that he turned to the more traditional pianist Dave Burrell for this session , ”said Richard Cook and Brian Morton in their analysis of the album, which they gave the highest rating of four stars in their Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD .

The staff of this January session had experience in both the established and the more free forms of jazz; the trumpeter Jimmy Owens had previously worked with Mingus , but also with Slide Hampton , Herbie Mann , Hank Crawford and Kenny Barron . The trombonist Grachan Moncur III came to reputation through his membership in Art Farmer / Benny Golsons Jazztet ; the artistic breakthrough came in 1962 with Jackie McLean . His first album should contain Moncur's composition "Frankenstein" , which later appeared on The Way Ahead . In 1966 he worked on Shepps Impulse debut album Mama Too Tight . Walter Davis Jr. was a hard bop pianist with a strong blues feel and knowledge of the complex structures of Bud Powell . He earned a reputation with Art Blakey and Max Roach . Bassist Ron Carter was a member of the Miles Davis Quintet at the time. The drum seat was shared between Beaver Harris and Roy Haynes . Haynes can be heard on the two tracks without a piano on this album, "Fiesta" and " Sophisticated Lady " . In the two other pieces from the February 26, 1969 session that were added to the CD version of the album, pianist Dave Burrell replaced Walter Davis; the bassist Walter Booker Ron Carter. Baritone saxophonist Charles Davis joined them; he had previously worked at Sun Ra and Kenny Dorham .

The ensemble that Shepp introduced with The Way Ahead became the prototype for the quintet that he was to form with Charles Greenlee , Dave Burell, Cameron Brown and Beaver Harris in the mid-1970s , and which incorporated many compositions by Moncur and Ellington.

Edition history

The material from the January 1968 session is included on the original LP (AS-9170). When the CD was released, the album was supplemented by two more pieces, the Moncur composition "New Africa" and "Bakai" by Cal Massey in a similar line-up, which were created on February 26, 1969 and initially on the Archie Shepp album Kwanza ( AS-9262) have been published.

The titles

  1. Damn If I Know (The Stroller) (Walter Davis Jr.) (6:16)
  2. Frankenstein (Moncur) (13:50)
  3. Fiesta (Shepp) (9:54)
  4. Sophisticated Lady (Ellington) (7:08)
  5. New Africa (Moncur) (12:55) - CD edition
  6. Bakai ( Cal Massey ) (10:04) - CD edition

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ cit. to Cuscuna
  2. ^ Cook & Morton.
  3. ↑ Massey's composition was first recorded by John Coltrane in 1957. Massey was later included as the composer and arranger on several Shepp recording sessions, such as Cry of My People and Attica Blues .