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ARCHIE SHEPP

with WALTER DAVIS, JR. piano; RON CARTER bass; JIMMY OWENS trumpet; 

GRACHAN MONCUR III trombone; BEAVER HARRIS*, RIY HAYNES drums

At various times in his long career, saxophonist, composer, playwright, and educator Archie Shepp has been regarded as a musical firebrand, cultural radical, soulful throwback to the jazz tradition, contemplative veteran explorer, and global jazz statesman. During the '60s, he was viewd as possibly the most articulate and intense member of the free jazz generation, using records such as Fire Music, The Way Ahead, and The Magic of Ju-Ju to speak hard truths about social injustice and the anger he felt. His tenor sax solos are searing, harsh, and unrelenting, played with a vivid intensity...

"THE WAY AHEAD"

1968     LP    IMPULSE! RECORDS     STEREO A-9170

PRINTED IN USA    ORIGINAL PRESSING

GATEFOLD COVER + COMPANY INNER SLEEVE

THICK CARDBOARD COVER (AMERICAN STYLE)

NOTES: Catalog number is A-9170 on sleeve (front, rear, spine, inside) and AS-9170 on labels.

Thick cardboard gatefold sleeve externally laminated.

With Impulse factory printed inner sleeve.

Barcode and Other Identifiers

Barcode: none

LABEL: IMPULSE! - BLACK LABEL  w/RED RIM- SILVER TEXT (White on rim)

Catalog on cover: A-9170  

Catalog on labels: AS-9170-A / AS-9170-B

Matrix / Runout (Side A, Etched): AS 9170A

Matrix / Runout (Side B, Etched): AS-9170B  LW

On labels: rim text reads "A Product of ABC Records...........Made in USA"

On inside right panel: Tracklist & Credits

Recorded January 29, 1968

Made in U.S.A.

On back cover: Produced by BOB THIELE

..........Printed in U.S.A.

 tracklisting

Side A: DAMN IF I KNOW (THE STROLLER) - FRANKESTEIN

Side B: FIESTA - SOPHISTICATED LADY

grading

RECORD EX but (please, read above description)

SLEEVE EX but (please, see pictures and read above description)

The Way Ahead was a turning point for Archie Shepp. For starters, he had looked all over the jazz/improv arena for the proper combination of players -- without a piano. One can speculate that this was because he cut his first teeth with pianist Cecil Taylor, and that could ruin anybody for life. Recorded in January 1968, The Way Ahead featured Ron Carter on bass, Grachan Moncur III's trombone, Jimmy Owens' trumpet, and drums by either Beaver Harris or Roy Haynes, with Walter Davis, Jr. on piano. The set is a glorious stretch of the old and new, with deep blues, gospel, and plenty of guttersnipe swing in the mix. From the post-bop blues opener "Damn If I Know (The Stroller)," the set takes its Ellington-Webster cue and goes looking for the other side of Mingus. Shepp's solo is brittle, choppy, honky, and glorious against a set of changes gracefully employed by Moncur and Owens. Harris' stuttering, skittering rhythm may keep it anchored in the blues, but holds the line for anything else to happen. Likewise, the modern edge of things evidenced by Moncur's "Frankenstein" (first recorded with Jackie McLean's group in 1963) turns up the heat a bit more. Shepp's take is wholly different, accenting pedal points and microharmonics in the breaks. On "Sophisticated Lady" and "Fiesta," Haynes fills the drum chair and cuts his manic swinging time through the arrangements, lending them more of an elegant flair than perhaps they deserve here, though they also dig deeper emotionally than one would expect...(AllMusic)