Archie Shepp

Steve Tintweiss and the Purple Why
MarksTown
Inky Dot Media ISDM 003

Two glimpses of where advanced Jazz was heading in the late 1960s are provided by these expressive discs. The genre was at one of its lowest ebbs. Fusion hadn’t yet attained populist hegemony by mixing simple melodies with ornate solos, though bands were already adopting Rock-Pop currents. Mainstreamers were repeating time-worn formulae and the so-called New Thing had been banished by most labels since its big money possibilities were negligible,

Bassist Steve Tintweiss, who worked with Burton Greene, Albert Ayler and others formed The Purple Why and the two 1968 concerts on MarksTown are an odd mixture of freeform so-called Loft Jazz experimentation mixed with Eastern-styled percussion breaks and shouted and mumbled vocal chants that fit in with hippie pop currents. A year later in Paris the shoestring BYG label gave a plethora of well-known avant-garde players a chance to record whatever they wanted with whomever they wanted. Blasé and Yasmina Revisited find tenor saxophonist Archie Shepp, one of the so-called stars of the so-called New Thing, trying on styles from Blues to gospel to mainstream to exploratory that he would pursue in future.

Involved in The Purple Why were two players who would continue to make advanced Jazz contributions into the 21st century, saxist/flutist Mark Whitecage and drummer Laurence Cook. Baritone saxophonist Trevor Koehler and (almost impossible to hear) singers Judy Stuart, Amy Sheffer vanished into pop music. Trumpeter James DuBoise, a major Loft Jazz figure, who later worked for government arts granting organizations, has retired from music, while Tintweiss now leads the Spacelight Band. MarksTown’s dozen tracks bounce among advanced individual sound generation, nearly tuneless singing and discontinuous instrumental percussion breaks. In truth the second set of tracks from September 1968 is superior to the seven from the month before. A compendium of faux-Eastern bell ringing, verbal yowling and unison horn undulations, the first tunes seem rushed and bombastic. It’s the tambourine-driven “N.E.S.W. up/down” that appears most assured, Reconvened later, the septet rediscovers dynamics and moves from quiet Arcadian tunes to ones that are more frantic and opaque. “Just Be Mine” for instance projects a melodic interface from trumpet flutters as jagged reed split tones flow in counterpoint. Drum bomb dropping and ruffs set up stropped string vibrations as the backing vocalists harmonize with elliptical cries. The extended “Monogamy Is Out”, the lyrics of which are almost impossible to make out, is propelled by buzzing bass slides and percussion clipping as the vocalists chant ghostly bel canto vibrations challenged by reed echoes and a flutter tongued obbligato from DuBoise. Whitecage’s dissected renal tones provide the emotion more audible lyrics should have provided, with the piece climaxing with capillary flutters and pizzicato bass pumps. More a snapshot of works in progress than a finished suite, the entire program would have been strengthened if Tintweiss had confined himself to playing.

There can be no argument about the vocalist on the other disc since the tessitura of Jeanne Lee can be stretched to amplify the contours of any tune. Backed by Chicago Beau and Julio Finn’s twin Chicago Blues style harmonicas and Dave Burrell’s backroom piano clips she easily swings “My Angel” into an impassioned soulful lament aided by Shepp’s snarling Sanctified reed cries. With a buoyant formal enunciation she emphasizes the classical spirituality of “There Is A Balm in Gilead” that is Lester Bowie’s wide brassy timbres, as bassist Malachi Favors bows textures below and alongside her reading. She gives the familiar “Sophisticated Lady” a classy refit without upsetting the lyric as Shepp snorts and reed bites a postmodern refrain. She even overcomes the theatrical aspects of the Shepp- composed “Blasé”, keeping the overwrought Black Power sentiments from sliding into melodrama with a matter-of-fact reading. Playing Pres to her Lady Day, Shepp’s harsh counterpoint runs from screams to moderato to reflect the narrative. These experiments augur for the saxophonist’s later investigation of the standard Jazz songbook, Blues, gospel and interaction with singer and the song form. The instrumentals “Touareg” and “Yasmina” indicate that while he was distancing from The New Thing he hadn’t yet embraced the mainstream. Generational connection on the first is confirmed as drummer Philly Joe Jones’ Hard Bop ruffs and cymbal clinks meld with Favors’ expressive plucks and rumbles. Shepp’s altissimo screams and overblowing may be a disruptive force, but his crying exposition climaxes in a theme that’s both gruff and poignant. Ambitiously aiming to meld the previous genre plus African rhythms is the 20-minute “Yasmina”. Performed by a tentet, four drummers contribute wood slaps and bell shaking plus standard beats, while Favors and bassist Earl Freeman’s slaps steady the horizontal flow. There is some Africanized vocalizing, and unison vamping from the two brass and two saxophones, while Burrell’s sophisticated piano patterning keeps the intensity from exploding, while maintaining moderato pace. Later Shepp’s reed screeches, slurps and honks are balanced by his clarion theme confirmation.

Very much of its time MarksTown should be fascinating for those who wish to know how improvised music sounded in the 1960s, or those who wish to transported back a half century. The Shepp sessions are deserved classics, with the underappreciated Burrell and Lee providing most of the classy sounds.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: MarksTown: 1. Bells intro 2. Ramona, I Love You 3. How Sweet? 4. Contrapuntal 5. N.E.S.W. up/down 6. The Purple Why theme 7. closing announcement 8. Universal Heroes 9. Just Be Mine 10. Monogamy Is Out 11. Space Rocks 12. “We Are All the Universal Heroes”

Personnel: MarksTown: James DuBoise (trumpet); Mark Whitecage (tenor saxophone, flute); Trevor Koehler (baritone saxophone); Steve Tintweiss (bass, melodica, vocals); Laurence Cook (drums) Judy Stuart, Amy Sheffer (vocals)

Track Listing: Blasé: 1. My Angel#@% 2. Blasé@% 3. There Is A Balm in Gilead*#% 4. Sophisticated Lady#@% 5. Touareg@ 6. Yasmina^*#~@

Personnel: Blasé: Clifford Thornton (cornet)^; Lester Bowie (trumpet, flugelhorn)*; Archie Shepp (tenor saxophone); Roscoe Mitchell (bass saxophone)^; Dave Burrell (piano)#; Malachi Favors, Earl Freeman~ (bass); Philly Joe Jones@, Sunny Murray^ (drums); Art Taylor^ (rhythm log); Laurence Devereaux^ (balafon); Chicago Beau^, Julio Finn^ (harmonica); Jeanne Lee (voice)%