1970 · Album
Hommage to Africa
Recorded August 1969, Paris · BYG Actuel · Produced by Not specified in available sources
A Dozen Voices in the Dark, Barely Holding
Well-intentioned chaos, hampered by tape and ambition, with moments of real craft breaking through.
The first thing you hear is drums and percussion layered thick, almost suffocating — Sunny Murray pushing hard against a wall of horns that don't quite lock together. Roscoe Mitchell, Archie Shepp, and the others are soloing in and out of focus, the recording quality murky enough that you're never quite sure what's bleeding through from where. It feels live but also feels like it's falling apart as you're listening to it.
Murray recorded this in Paris in August 1969 with a roster of free jazz heavyweights — Lester Bowie on trumpet, Clifford Thornton on cornet, Grachan Moncur III on trombone, Dave Burrell at the piano, Alan Silva on bass, plus Jeanne Lee singing, and a cluster of percussionists. The ambition was there. The problem was the tape itself. AllMusic reviewer Eugene Chadbourne noted that the centerpiece "Suns of Africa" sprawls across two parts with good intentions but unclear execution — the second part apparently captured whatever the engineer managed to grab when flipping the tape. The drums take a real hit in the mix, everything does. But the flip side works better. "R.I.P." shows Murray thinking clearly about composition; simple, assembled well, the kind of thing that reminds you why this session mattered despite its rough edges.
Who's playing
Archie Shepptenor saxophone
Lester Bowietrumpet
Malachi Favorsbell
Earl Freemanbell
Arthur Jonesgong
Jeanne Leebell
Where next?
More by Sunny Murray
All 26 albums →
The musicians on this record
Their own records, close in time
