Free Jazz Music

The "ballads" label always scares me. Often an excuse to phone it in. Not so here. Mr Shepp remains thoroughly engaged throughout the CD, and the sidemen keep pace.

However, this is all about Archie. He even sings on a couple of tunes. Not the greatest singer on the planet, but not bad and he carries it off with a great deal of feeling. Perhaps about two verses too many through the course of the CD.

Of course, it's his sax playing that makes this CD. It is nothing short of phenomenal. Proof that one can spend years exploring the outer reaches of an instrument's capabilities, and bring the knowledge gained into a readily accessible medium like these ballads.

There are places in the music where it almost seems as if Mr. Shepp is letting the instrument play itself. For instance when he freely floats back and forth between octaves. On several tunes, he makes the instrument alternately sound like a trumpet, oboe, clarinet, and back to sax.

I am really enjoying this release. Also, managed to get it used for much less than $45.

With John Hicks (piano), George Mraz (bass) and Billy Drammond (drums).

The "ballads" label always scares me. Often an excuse to phone it in. Not so here. Mr Shepp remains thoroughly engaged throughout the CD, and the sidemen keep pace.

However, this is all about Archie. He even sings on a couple of tunes. Not the greatest singer on the planet, but not bad and he carries it off with a great deal of feeling. Perhaps about two verses too many through the course of the CD.

Of course, it's his sax playing that makes this CD. It is nothing short of phenomenal. Proof that one can spend years exploring the outer reaches of an instrument's capabilities, and bring the knowledge gained into a readily accessible medium like these ballads.

There are places in the music where it almost seems as if Mr. Shepp is letting the instrument play itself. For instance when he freely floats back and forth between octaves. On several tunes, he makes the instrument alternately sound like a trumpet, oboe, clarinet, and back to sax.

I am really enjoying this release. Also, managed to get it used for much less than $45.

With John Hicks (piano), George Mraz (bass) and Billy Drammond (drums).

The "ballads" label always scares me. Often an excuse to phone it in. Not so here. Mr Shepp remains thoroughly engaged throughout the CD, and the sidemen keep pace.

However, this is all about Archie. He even sings on a couple of tunes. Not the greatest singer on the planet, but not bad and he carries it off with a great deal of feeling. Perhaps about two verses too many through the course of the CD.

Of course, it's his sax playing that makes this CD. It is nothing short of phenomenal. Proof that one can spend years exploring the outer reaches of an instrument's capabilities, and bring the knowledge gained into a readily accessible medium like these ballads.

There are places in the music where it almost seems as if Mr. Shepp is letting the instrument play itself. For instance when he freely floats back and forth between octaves. On several tunes, he makes the instrument alternately sound like a trumpet, oboe, clarinet, and back to sax.

I am really enjoying this release. Also, managed to get it used for much less than $45.

With John Hicks (piano), George Mraz (bass) and Billy Drammond (drums).

I noticed a lot of people making mistkes on their music guides. This album is by James Blood Ulmer, NOT THE JROCK BAND, X-JAPAN.

So...yah, just so you know. it would be upsetting to read a guide and, not knowing any better, buy this thinking it was jrock and wasting my money.

Much underrated JBU mixes some haunting blues with his far-out guitar antics.
Great rhythm section makes it good driving the car or even doing the dishes.
My no 1 guitarist amongst the living !

Just here to bring balance by countering the bone-headed 1 star review. One star because the "kid" is too stupid to read the man's name beside the title!

Superbly inventive jazz guitar, smeared with blues and funk.

This compilation, produced by EMI Canada, is a very good way for a novice to sample the wide variety of music and artists on one of the great Jazz labels of all time. The recordings are culled from the various "Best of the Blue Note Years" collections that the label released during the 1990's. The recordings span a period of over 50 years, from Sidney Bechet's seminal 1939 recording of "Summertime" to John Scofield's 1993 "Message to My Friend". Of course, when you mine a vault as rich as Blue Note's, you virtually cannot miss in coming up with true classic music. However, some of the selections are questionable (e.g. only one cut each from Jimmy Smith and Art Blakey, but we get two middling funk exercises from Donald Byrd?) and the sequencing at times is a bit jarring (e.g. from Wayne Shorter's "Speak No Evil" right into Grant Green's "Sookie, Sookie"). These however, are relatively minor complaints. Overall, I would recommend this collection for anyone who wants an overview of what made Blue Note great; but beware! This collection may end up costing you a lot more, as it will most likely whet your appetite for more great things from the artists who are only sampled here!

This is truly a great compliation of blue note recordings. If you like jazz, funk, or jazz-fusion and are too lazy or just don't have enough money to go out and buy all of the albums on the the blue note label, this is a good introduction to some of the most important artists in jazz. 4 and a half hours long!

i love this cd, and i love the color blue. This cd helps me think of blue. Now that's cool, huh?