Archie Shepp - Yasmina, a black woman

barabara sounds sez:

It doesn't get much better than this all-time classic: Archie Shepp and his band invoking the spirits of Africa and the avant guard, a massive collaboration with the key members of the Art Ensemble of Chicago. Brilliant stuff and, needless to say, a barabara classic.

dusty groove sez:

Archie Shepp at his spiritual best – recording in Paris in 1969, and absorbing a heck of a lot of pan-African influences! The centerpiece of the album is the amazing "Yasmina" – a long track that builds with passion and fire, pulsing with an intensity that you'd expect more from Pharoah Sanders than Shepp himself. Next up is "Sonny's Back", a wonderful straight jazz groover with Archie and Hank Mobley on twin tenors upfront – making a rare and memorable recorded appearance together! The set's capped off by a mellow version of "Body & Soul", one that points towards the more soulful side of Shepp's work in the 70s.

personnel:

Archie Shepp vocals, soprano & tenor sax, piano; Roscoe Mitchell bass sax; Grachan Moncur III trombone; Dave Burrell piano; Burton Greene piano; Laurence Devereaux balafon; Sunny Murray drums, percussion; Claude Delcloo drums; Hank Mobley vocals tenor sax; Lester Bowie trumpet; Clifford Thornton cornet; Philly Joe Jones drums.

tracks:

A1 Yasmina; B1 Sonny's Back; B2 Body & Soul

David Murray - Lovers

barabara sounds sez:

David Murray laid down not four but five [see comments] albums with the same band in the same series of sessions in New York in January 1988 for the Disk Union (DIW) label. This was the second of them — the others were Deep River, Spirituals, Ballads and Tenors — and probably the most overlooked. 

AMG likes Spirituals best — maybe because it's the least 'out there'. It also rates Ballards but doesn't even bother to write up Lovers. There's very little else out there on the web about these albums either, but the review of Ballards pretty much sums this one up too. As the man sez, these were some of his best albums of the decade. Excellent sound quality too. 

amg (Stephen Cook) sez:

Ballards is oneof David Murray's finest records. Like the three [sic] other excellent DIW releases that came from the same productive New York Sessions of January 1988 (Spirituals, Deep River, and Lovers), it contains a mix of originals by Murray, pianist Dave Burrell and drummer Ralph Peterson Jr., and it also includes fine bass work by Fred Hopkins. The rapport these players have on this record is stunning. They effortlessly move through a program of cool yet smart after-hours explorations that, in spite of the multi-layered arrangements, come out sounding almost artless... Murray displays his usual inventiveness of phrasing and tone... but thankfully suppresses his penchant for gratuitous outbursts, keeping his solos flowing. This sort of studied, yet loose playing is heard from all the quartet members, including Peterson, who, like Murray, also has the tendency to eat up the scenery...