Archie Shepp released the funk-backed big band and vocals album Attica Blues in 1972, in outraged response to the murderous put down of the previous year’s riot in Attica prison.

This live CD, culled from two French festival performances, reprises the original repertoire and adds Ellington’s “Come Sunday” and the saxophonist’s James Brown influenced composition “Mama Too Tight”. Like the original, it’s slightly loose at the edges, but Shepp is gruffly on form, Amine Claudine Myers is among the vocals and trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire shines.

Archie Shepp Attica Blues Orchestra

I Hear the Sound

(Archieball)

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