Customer Reviews

New Thing at Newport (Reis) (Rstr) (Dig)

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this is not john coltrane and archie shepp playing together. this is a 1965 performance at the newport jazz festival of each players seperate quartets. it starts with 2 coltrane tracks, which cover roughly 28 minutes of time, and finishes with 5 by archie shepp's quartet, his set running roughly 33 minutes. coltrane's performance is, as usual, spectacular, and all traneheads should acquire this cd. shepp's stuff is wonderful, too. i have only 2 archie shepp cds in my collection, and after hearing this performance, i came to the conclusion that this is not acceptable. i need to dig deeper into the man's discography. mr shepp and his quartet are inventive and play with intensity and fire. not easy listening jazz. and this will not be for everybody. but it certainly is for me. coltrane fans should definitely love this entire disc.

Don't mistake this for a collaboration between Coltrane and Shepp - Coltrane and his band are featured on the first two cuts and their work here is uninspiring. Shepp and his bandmates playing on the other hand is terrific! Particularly impressive is Bobby Hutcherson's work on the vibes while Shepp squeals and squawks on tenor sax. If you're a fan of Coleman, Celil Taylor, Dolphy and other free jazz pioneers, you'll appreciate this album.