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Archie Shepp: The Way Ahead, Kwanza, The Magic Of Ju-Ju Revisited

By Mark Corroto
January 20, 2023
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: Archie Shepp: The Way Ahead, Kwanza, The Magic Of Ju-Ju Revisited

Allow me to expand on a much restated quote from

Albert Ayler

saxophone, tenor
1936 - 1970

" data-original-title="" title="">Albert Ayler: "Coltrane was The Father, Pharoah was The Son, and I was... The Holy Ghost." If we remain with the Christian iconography, that makes Archie Shepp, Simon Peter, or the Apostle Peter whom Jesus called the rock upon which he built his church. Christened by his tenure in the early 1960s with

Cecil Taylor

piano
1929 - 2018

" data-original-title="" title="">Cecil Taylor, Shepp was baptized into what we now call a modernist approach. In meeting Coltrane, a man always searching for a purity of sound, Shepp found his true path. One that was aligned with the 'New Thing,' but built upon a foundation of the Black experience in the musical and political history in both America and globally.

Coltrane connected Shepp with the Impulse! jazz label and he recorded Four For Trane in August of 1964. Not by coincidence

Marion Brown

saxophone, alto
1931 - 2010

" data-original-title="" title="">Marion Brown would deliver the Impulse! recording Three For Shepp in 1966. Shepp would soon be invited to record with Coltrane in December 1964 at the Love Supreme sessions (a version which would not be available to listeners for nearly forty years) and on Ascension in 1965. By 1967 Coltrane was gone and Ayler, too, dead in 1970. It was up to

Pharoah Sanders

saxophone, tenor
1940 - 2022

" data-original-title="" title="">Pharoah Sanders and Shepp to carry the message of this new universal music.

For Shepp, his focus on the Afrocentric experience in music preaches both the new and old testament, as evidenced by these revisited recordings. His sound draws from spirituals and blues as much as it does free jazz and fire music. It is always an activist music, as Shepp was/is always an activist.

The English poet Lord Byron once wrote, "The prophet of the future is the past." Indeed, the music revisited here centers Shepp as a proper oracle. The three studio recording sessions, Magic Of Ju-Ju (April, 1967), The Way Ahead (January, 1968), and Kwanza (February, 1969) show evidence of Shepp's devotion to the past and also his commitment to the future.

Consider Shepp's piano-less version of

Duke Ellington

piano
1899 - 1974

" data-original-title="" title="">Duke Ellington's "Sophisticated Lady," a song first introduced in 1933 by the orchestra leader. The saxophonist's rendition is mindful of the song's long established tradition. It had been lovingly covered by the greats such as

Art Tatum

piano
1909 - 1956

" data-original-title="" title="">Art Tatum,

Thelonious Monk

piano
1917 - 1982

" data-original-title="" title="">Thelonious Monk,

Charles Mingus

bass, acoustic
1922 - 1979

" data-original-title="" title="">Charles Mingus, and

Billie Holiday

vocals
1915 - 1959

" data-original-title="" title="">Billie Holiday. Shepp adds to the composition's heritage by his careful interpretation, keeping the presentation honest and uncomplicated. His delivery may not be what New Thing loyalists expected, but Shepp must certainly have studied the words of Marcus Garvey, "A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots." Those roots, both musically and culturally would be inspiration for much of the music Shepp made throughout his legendary career.

"New Africa" by

Grachan Moncur III

trombone
1937 - 2022

" data-original-title="" title="">Grachan Moncur III from the Kwanza recording features the piano of

Dave Burrell

piano
b.1940

" data-original-title="" title="">Dave Burrell, another modernist who knows the traditions of past. The music opens with Shepp's vocalizations before a four horn frontline of Charles Davis, Moncur,

Jimmy Owens

trumpet
b.1943

" data-original-title="" title="">Jimmy Owens; the saxophonist knots together an ever rising joyful prayer. From the same session, Cal Massey's "Bakai" expands upon a familiar Ellington locomotion pulse, a sound Shepp's compatriot

Charles Mingus

bass, acoustic
1922 - 1979

" data-original-title="" title="">Charles Mingus would often draw upon. The saxophonist commits here to an ensemble sound, tempering his outward tendencies with an accessible mix of instruments.

From The Way Ahead studio sessions we get the Shepp's composition "Fiesta," Walter Davis, Jr.'s "Damn If I Know (The Stroller)," and Moncur's "Frankenstein." "Fiesta" kicks off with Roy Haynes' incendiary drums that act as an accelerant for Shepp's fiery tenor before we hear Moncur's trombone and Owens' trumpet weave a welcoming orchestration. The blues-drenched "Damn If I Know (The Stroller)" with Walter Davis Jr.'s accompaniment is an absolute cry of heart stopping emotion, which comes as much from a

Coleman Hawkins

saxophone, tenor
1904 - 1969

" data-original-title="" title="">Coleman Hawkins/

Ben Webster

saxophone, tenor
1909 - 1973

" data-original-title="" title="">Ben Webster tradition as it does from the new thing. Likewise "Frankenstein" is evidence of Shepp's synthesis of fire music with traditional methods. His attention outward, to free music is deftly counterbalanced by his orchestration and arrangements of each composition.

Finally, let's consider "The Magic Of Ju-Ju." Shepp's tenor fills more than a quarter of an hour preaching his free jazz fire accompanied by one, two, then five percussionists including Norman Connors, Beaver Harris, Frank Charles, Dennis Charles, and

Ed Blackwell

drums
1929 - 1992

" data-original-title="" title="">Ed Blackwell swirling a hypnotic amalgam of percussive energy. It is not until the closing minutes that Martin Banks' trumpet and Mike Zwerin's trombone enter to bring the affair to a conclusion. Did Shepp's music (like that of Albert Ayler and Pharaoh Sanders) influence Coltrane's later experiments with

Rashied Ali

drums
1935 - 2009

" data-original-title="" title="">Rashied Ali, or did Coltrane's later music influence Shepp? The answer is yes, and also yes. This holy family liked to share and share alike.

Liner Notes copyright ? 2025 Mark Corroto.

The Way Ahead, Kwanza, The Magic of Ju-ju Revisited can be purchased here.

Contact Mark Corroto at All About Jazz.
Mark misses his dogs Louie & Freddy, but endeavors daily to find and listen to new and interesting sounds.

Track Listing

The Way Ahead

Damn If I Know (The Stroller); Frankenstein; Fiesta; Sophisticated Lady.

Kwanza

New Africa; Bakai.

The Magic of Ju-Ju

The Magic of Ju-Ju.

Personnel

Archie Shepp

saxophone, tenor

Jimmy Owens

trumpet

Martin Banks

trumpet

Mike Zwerin

trumpet

Grachan Moncur III

trombone

Charles Davis

saxophone

Dave Burrell

piano

Walter Davis Jr.

piano

Ron Carter

bass

Walter Booker

bass

Reggie Workman

bass

Beaver Harris

drums

Roy Haynes

drums

Norman Connors

drums

Additional Instrumentation

Jimmy Owens: trumpet (1-6); Martin Banks: trumpet, flugelhorn (7); Michael Zwerin: trumpet, trombone (7); Grachan Moncur III: trombone (1-6); Charles Davis: baritone saxophone (5, 6); Walter Davis: piano (1-4); Dave Burrell: piano (5, 6); Ron Carter: double bass (1-4); Walter Booker: double bass (5, 6); Reggie Workman: double bass (7); Beaver Harris: drums (1, 2, 5-7); Roy Haynes: drums (3, 4); Norman Connor: drums (7); Eddie Blackwell: rhythm logs (7); Frank Charles: talking drum (7); Dennis Charles: percussion (7).

Album information

Title: The Way Ahead, Kwanza, The Magic of Ju-ju Revisited | Year Released: 2023 | Record Label: Ezz-thetics

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