Coda: Philly Joe and Archie Shepp; Art Taylor and Noah Howard

I have a strong feeling that’s the best way to protest. Protesting through music. All your anger comes out there. All the beauty and everything else comes out there…..

In some cases people like Pharoah Sanders or Sun Ra give them the whole constellation. Yeah, they’re playing that sort of music correctly. That band [Sun Ra Arkestra] sounds beautiful….

Like I said, everybody’s been playing free. Every time you play a solo, you’re free to play what you want to play. That’s freedom right there.

-Philly Joe Jones to Art Taylor in Notes and Tones, October 13, 1969

A few weeks ago, I wrote this post on a trio of Archie Shepp albums made for BYG-Actuel with drummer Philly Joe Jones. These records— challenging, engaging, and a lot of fun— allow us to hear the deeper currents informing the music at the time, and a lesser-known aspect of Philly Joe’s artistry.

The three Archie Shepp/Philly Joe Jones records were made in Paris over the course of a single week, in August 1969. In November, Jones and Shepp met again in a Paris recording studio, this time joined by two newly-arrived Chicagoans, Anthony Braxton and Leroy Jenkins, bassist Earl Freeman, and two (for lack of a better term) blues musicians, Chicago Beau (L.T. Beauchamp) and Julio Finn.

The group recorded two extended tracks, both composed by the bluesmen: Chicago Beau wrote “The Lowlands”, and Finn contributed the two-part “Howling In The Silence”. Eventually released by a label called America (though my copy is on Fantasy and has adds for CCR on the sleeve) the album is called simply Archie Shepp and Philly Joe Jones.

It’s a curious album title: Shepp takes the first solo on the record, and Philly Joe gets a few moments of spotlight, but otherwise neither Shepp nor Jones are really featured. Perhaps Jones and Shepp had the clout to make the record date happen, and the title is meant as a tribute?

On Archie Shepp’s BYG records with Philly Joe— Yasmina A Black Woman, Poem For Malcolm, and Blasé— Shepp was seeking a blend of (among other things) free jazz, new composition, and something from the theater— drama and oratory. The Shepp-Jones-Beau-Finn record is sort of along those lines, but in contrast to Archie’s albums, which were meticulously arranged, this date seems more spontaneous, with Beau and Finn’s recitations and vocals intercutting long stretches of vamps and solos.

This is some authentic blues experimentalism, an unknown world to me, but evidently not to the participants on the record date. It’s fascinating to hear Shepp and Jones working with Beau and Finn to integrate the blues and street poetry into ultra-modern improvisation.

Standout moments include the brief Shepp-Jones duo midway through “The Lowlands”, and a Braxton/Jones duo towards the end of the song. On “Howling In The Silence”, Finn’s shouted recitation is unforgettable, and Braxton takes a feverish solo over a languid vamp, aided and abetted by Jones.

It’s a bold, truly experimental album, at times verging on performance art. It doesn’t appear to be streaming anywhere, but here’s a link to a YouTube rip of Side 2, “Howling In The Silence”. Archie Shepp and Philly Joe Jones closes the Shepp-Jones collaborations of 1969 on a thought-provoking note.

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Drummer Art Taylor is maybe most well-known for his appearances on foundational jazz records: Miles Davis’ Miles Ahead, John Coltrane’s Soultrane and Giant Steps, and Thelonious Monk Orchestra at Town Hall. But Taylor, like Philly Joe, was an ex-pat, living in Europe (mostly Paris) from the mid-Sixties until the early Eighties. So perhaps it’s unsurprising that Taylor explored the New Thing.

Art Taylor is featured on two classic sessions by legendary avant-garde alto saxophonist Noah Howard and his frequent collaborator, tenor saxophonist Frank Wright. I was alerted to this by Hank Shteamer’s great article on Howard and Wright, found here; I hadn’t previously known that A.T., like Philly Joe, embraced the new sound, albeit briefly.

Frank Wright, in NYC by way of Cleveland, where he knew Albert Ayler, and Noah Howard, originally from New Orleans, formed a co-operative band in 1969 with pianist Bobby Few. In the summer of that year, the group de-camped to Paris, where they were embraced by adventurous listeners, connected with the AACM musicians already there, and made some recordings.

The two albums Howard and Wright made with Art Taylor are:

• Frank Wright: Uhuru Na Umoja (America, 1970)

• Noah Howard: Space Dimension (America, 1971)

Both albums were recorded in Paris in 1970 and feature a bass-less quartet of Howard, Wright, Bobby Few, and Art Taylor. Uhuru Na Umoja (America, 1970), issued under Wright’s name but apparently a Howard-led session, is the better known date, currently streaming on Apple Music.

“Oriental Mood” is a high-energy explosion following a pentatonic melody in keeping with the title. Taylor is game, backing up Howard and Wright with rolls and crashes, fully involved in the new language.

Roughly in the “After The Rain” lineage, Taylor stays on cymbals with occasional tomtom comments for “Aurora Borealis”, working in tandem with pianist Bobby Few.

“Grooving” is a stand-out track; the hint of steady tempo seems to unlock Taylor, who’s combative and fiery with Wright, and gentler with Howard, matching their energy. Three tracks in, Art Taylor sounds right at home.

“Being” builds on the “Grooving” template: a lightly-implied tempo with a strong, simple theme seems to be Taylor’s wheelhouse; he’s virtuosic in this setting, recalling Andrew Cyrille, moving between a forest-floor/white-noise texture and more declamatory phrases.

The most explicitly in-time cut, “Pluto” has Taylor playing a quasi-march, before opening up into an energetic outpouring. A.T. is frequently playing fragments of fast 4/4, which works perfectly with the Howard-Wright tandem solo. Love how the melody comes back.

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Noah Howard’s Space Dimension (America, 1971) features the same personnel as Uhuru Na Umoja. The recording dates are uncertain, but the group sounds a touch more integrated, perhaps it’s a few weeks or months after the last album. Here’s a link to a YouTube vinyl rip; I’ll be buying this on Discogs ASAP.

The title track, an out-of-time ballad, strongly suggests Sun Ra. Taylor, at ease, pushes against the languid atmosphere with slammed doors while Howard, Wright, and Few soar. A more-or-less straight-ahead Latin feel is used for “Viva Black”, but Taylor frequently veers off into alternatives.

Muhammad Ali, brother of Rashied, plays on “Church Number 9”, a multi-movement piece that includes a brief rock and roll/gospel section. Ali sounds great, full-bodied and strong, I’d like to learn more about him.

Art Taylor returns for “Song For Poets”, a relentless wave of energy, with some memorable tutti ensemble hits at the conclusion, while “Blues For Thelma” is in a swinging 4/4.

“Blues For Thelma” is special. At the outset, Taylor is playing some straight-ahead jazz drums, and later, he surges and retreats, never truly abandoning Kenny Clarke and the cymbal beat, though they are more a spectral presence than a stated fact during Wright’s and Few’s solos. Fitting that the final track shows how connected the New Thing was to Taylor’s bebop wisdom.

Uhuru Na Umoja and Space Dimension must have been shocking and transgressive music in 1970; no doubt Howard, Wright, and Few paid heavy dues for hoeing this row. Art Taylor, master musician and standard-bearer for his community, was a sensitive and progressive artist, bringing depth and perspective to Howard and Wright’s ultra-modern improvisation. Some great music here.

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I take for granted that I can listen to and play anything I want; with my peers and colleagues, we make a show of moving fluidly from one style to another. I bet things weren’t so simple in 1969 and 1970. All respect for the bravery shown by Philly Joe Jones and Art Taylor stepping decisively into the avant-garde, playing themselves, letting us hear how it’s all one thing.

Let’s be clear: the musical freedom I enjoy is only possible because of the risk, innovations, and brilliance of the Black masters, of Philly Joe Jones, Art Taylor, and so many others. They made the way for us all.

As always, we’re so lucky to have these records. Check ‘em out, you’ll dig ‘em.