Archie Shepp

Four albums Archie Shepp made for the two Milan labels, one from 1975 on Black Saint and three from the mid-1980s on Soul Note. The tenor and soprano saxophonist also sings on most of them. The box moves from a sextet with trombone and poetry recorded in Milan to a New York quintet with voices, a Milan quintet with Enrico Rava and a live quartet in California. Each disc is reproduced in its card sleeve with the original artwork.

A Sea Of Faces, recorded at Phonogram Studio in Milan on August 4 and 5, 1975, has Charles Greenlee on trombone, Dave Burrell on piano, Cameron Brown on bass and Beaver Harris on drums, with the singer Bunny Foy. Its centre is Song For Mozambique joined to the poem A Sea Of Faces, with Shepp on soprano and voice, and on I Know 'Bout The Life he moves to the piano. Down Home New York was recorded in New York in February 1984 with Charles McGhee on trumpet, Kenny Werner on piano, Saheb Sarbib on bass and Marvin "Smitty" Smith on drums, most of the band also singing. It takes in 'Round About Midnight and Straight Street. Little Red Moon, cut at Barigozzi Studio in Milan in December 1985, sets Shepp with Rava on trumpet and flugelhorn, Siegfried Kessler on piano and synthesizer, Wilbur Little and Clifford Jarvis, and plays Naima, Whisper Not and Sweet Georgia Brown. California Meeting was taped live at the On Broadway bar in Sacramento on May 22, 1985 by the radio station KXPR, with George Cables, Herbie Lewis and Eddie Marshall, through St. James Infirmary, A Night In Tunisia, Giant Steps and My Romance, Royal Blue singing on the first.

The Complete Remastered Recordings On Black Saint & Soul Note, CAM Jazz box BXS 1035 from 2015: four remastered CDs reissuing albums first released between 1975 and 1987.