Archie Shepp - Coral Rock (1970)

Coral Rock features an absolutely monster free jazz lineup. Fans of other releases on America or the BYG Actuel series should be familiar with a number of these sidemen: Bobby Few, Clifford Thornton, Muhammad Ali, Joseph Jarman. Particularly of interest, though, might be the under-recorded Alan Shorter, who contributed the title track. This piece is especially reminiscent of "Mephistopheles," a tune that appeared (in different capacities) on his brother Wayne's similarly great Blue Note LP The All Seeing Eye and certain reissue pressings of the self-titled Marion Brown record on ESP. Like "Mephistopheles," "Coral Rock" features a lumbering, march-like bassline and incredibly dissonant head. "Coral Rock," however, is much looser and, for this reason, it would be difficult to imagine it on a Blue Note release of any kind. This is free jazz straight out of the late-'60s/early-'70s Paris scene. Very serious stuff. That having been said, the inclusion of the standard "I Should Care" may come as a surprise, but one should keep in mind that no matter how far out Archie Shepp got, his roots have always been firmly planted in the past. It is seemingly presented here more as a vehicle for pianist Bobby Few than anything else and, within Shepp's catalog, might be compared to the free blues of "Damn If I Know (The Stroller)" from his 1968 Impulse LP, The Way Ahead. This session was reissued in the States by Prestige. ~ by Brandon Burke, AMG.

America Records, 30 AM 6103, 1970

Prestige Records, PRST 10066, 1973

Recorded 23^rd July, 1970 At Studio Decca, Paris, France

Musicians:

Archie Shepp - Tenor Saxophone, Piano

Lester Bowie - Trumpet

Al Shorter - Flugelhorn

Clifford Thornton - Valve Trombone

Bobby Few - Piano

Bob Reid - Bass

Mohamed Ali - Drums

Ostaine Blue Warner - Percussion

Djibrill - Conga Drums

Tracks:

A. Coral Rock {Alan Shorter} (22:09)

B. I Should Care {Axel Stordahl, Paul Weston, Sammy Cahn} (14:05)

Total Time: 36:14

Credits:

Producer - Pierre Berjot

Photography - Gilbert Moreau

Sleeve Notes - Valerie Wilmer