Archie Shepp Band – New Morning: The Geneva Concert
Picture:
C+ Sound: B- Extras: C Concert: B-
Archie Shepp is an enduring Jazz
Saxophonist who worked with the challenging Cecil Taylor, which led to his
meeting almost every important figure in the Jazz world. He would mix Afro-centric and Be Bop forms
with his Jazz in a Blues fashion that made for a distinctive identity that
would soon be joined by a political sense, which all these years later would explain
why you have not heard much of or about him.
This new
DVD from the New Morning series is a
Geneva concert from August 23rd 1994 and features the following
songs:
1)
Revolution
2)
Things Ain’t What They Used To Be
3)
Ask Me Now
4)
Arrival
5)
The Reverse
6)
Steam
7)
Up Phat
8)
Sophisticated Lady
Running
about two hours, it is a good, but not great concert, feeling spotty, muddy and
uneven at times. The style is different,
but there is a sense that some of the styles and songs chosen do not mesh,
though you do get extended jams and all.
It is worth a look for Jazz diehards and those interested in hearing
something a little different.
The
letterboxed 1.78 image is a little soft, though color is not bad for its
age. The sound is here in decent PCM
16bit/48kHz 2.0 Stereo, which is a little clearer than the Dolby Digital and
DTS 5.1 mixes, which sound compressed as the audio is just too old and limited
for such remixes. An interview with
Shepp and piece on he & Les Gnawas de Tanger are the only extras.
- Nicholas Sheffo
