Archie Shepp - KwanzaThese 1969 recordings (released 5 years later) combine Shepps free jazz bonafides and a blend of blues and funk through an African lens, all in a big band setting. The all star brass section, featuring James Spaulding and Charles Davis on sax along with trombonist Graham Moncur III lead the way on stand outs including New Africa and Spoo Pee Doo. This Verve By Request LP features transfers from analog tapes and remastered on 180 gram vinyl, pressed at

The ambient underpinnings and garbled vocals of Everything in its Right Place

stuck in spit

Despite all its grandeur

one of the most interesting tracks on Peripheral Figures

it’s a carefully crafted distillation of ideas

His work is still recognised as a valuable contribution

but this time deep-diving into gnarled and twisted

Christina Vantzou

Since the demise of Factory records

it would be beautiful

In the words of Jenny Hval: ‰ÛÏBlood Bitch is an investigation of blood

Barbara Mason