Track Listing

1. Back Back
2. Spoo Pee Doo
3. New Africa
4. Slow Drag
5. Bakai

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #245868 in Music
• Released on: 2006-11-06
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Dimensions: .21 pounds
• Running time: 42 minutes

CD Description
By the early 1970s, Archie Shepp had already moved away from the strident avant-garde sound that characterized his '60swork, opting for a swing, groove, and funk-based style thatrelied on fat, big-band arrangements. 1974's KWANZA is an excellent example of Shepp's work from the era. In addition to being a celebration of the African-American holiday of thesame name, KWANZA is witty, groovy, wild, joyous, and not entirely devoid of Shepp's cutting edge sensibility (althoughit's sublimated into more accessible forms here). Appearances from a bevy of jazz legends, including Joe Chambers, Woody Shaw, Grachan Moncur III, Wilbur Ware, and others, made this one of the gems in Shepp's already glittering discography.

Customer Reviews

Furious free funk
A nice collection of tracks recorded by Shepp in several 1968/9 different sessions for Impulse records, described in the liner notes as "a celebration of all things African and African-American." The music is in a free-funk mode, less overtly accessible than 'Attica Blues', less grandiose than 'The Cry of My People', but certainly a lot easier on the ear than his more avant-garde work - Shepp seems to have believed that, to capture the emotions and feeling of the black experience that he sought to convey, he had to adopt, or at least work with elements of the musical idioms that young black people were listening to. But, like Miles Davis' with 'On the Corner', avowedly an attempt to reach a younger black audience, yet full of avant-garde touches, this didn't compromise his artistic integrity - at least, not here (arguably it has a more serious effect on 'Attica Blues', though as it happens I do like that album, even if it doesn't have the raw intensity of Shepp's best work). Intensity is something that this defintely has, from the get-go: 'Back Back' steams over a terrific organ riff, with Shepp's tenor bursting with angry energy. 'Spoo Pee Doo' is a little short, fading out just as its about to get going after a little over two minutes, so it doesn't really have much chance to develop, but what there is is pretty good - Leon Thomas is on vocals, getting to do a little bit of the yodelling that would pop up on Pharoah Sanders records from the same period. 'New Africa', with its ominous, thundering piano, moves into more dramatic, freer territory, of the sort Shepp had been exploring on his more adventurous albums: it features someone (Shepp?) on vocals who interjects with wordless cries and shouts of "Uhuru! Uhuru!" as the musicians stretch out. Like 'Back Back', 'Slow Drag' features another great riff, and its more of the same energetic, greasy, sweaty, angry funk (it was originally released on the album 'For Losers'). 'Bakai' feels to me like a rather tired tune, written by Cal Massey (who has a big role on 'Attica Blues' and 'The Cry of My People'), but the solos render it interesting (it features the same impassioned vocal exhorations as 'New Africa').

All in all, definitely worth picking up, although 'New Africa' and 'Bakai' also feature on the CD reissue of 'The Way Ahead', so you'll be duplicating quite a lot of music if you already have that one.