Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
On 25th April, 1977, Archie Shepp and Horace Parlan entered the Sweet Silence recording studio in Copenhagen to record an album of spirituals, 'Going Home', for Steeplechase Records. The following day, they performed this material again, live, as can be heard in the recordings uploaded here: youtube.com/watch?v=ifUxELfgIj0. On April 27th, Shepp performed the entire programme again, this time as a solo recital, in Göttingen, Germany. From that concert, here is the version of Duke Ellington's modern-day spiritual, and tribute to all the impulses the spiritual contained and contains, 'Come Sunday'. Recorded by Shepp with orchestra--strings, congas, and the soaring vocals of Joe Lee Wilson--for his 1972 album 'The Cry of My People'--what we hear over the course of these various performances of 'Come Sunday', is a progressive reduction and refinement, from orchestra to duo to, finally, this exceedingly rare context of the a capella solo. Since Coleman Hawkins' 'Picasso', the solo saxophone performance has had a submerged, but important presence in the jazz repertoire. In the 1970s, there were notable solo work from Anthony Braxton, Roscoe Mitchell, and Marion Brown. Shepp is not often put in this context, but his performance here shows him every bit as adept. It's a performance of surpassing beauty and grace.
(Information about Shepp's performance schedule taken from here: lpogost.neocities.org/archieshepp)
On 25th April, 1977, Archie Shepp and Horace Parlan entered the Sweet Silence recording studio in Copenhagen to record an album of spirituals, 'Going Home', for Steeplechase Records. The following day, they performed this material again, live, as can be heard in the recordings uploaded here: youtube.com/watch?v=ifUxELfgIj0. On April 27th, Shepp performed the entire programme again, this time as a solo recital, in Göttingen, Germany. From that concert, here is the version of Duke Ellington's modern-day spiritual, and tribute to all the impulses the spiritual contained and contains, 'Come Sunday'. Recorded by Shepp with orchestra--strings, congas, and the soaring vocals of Joe Lee Wilson--for his 1972 album 'The Cry of My People'--what we hear over the course of these various performances of 'Come Sunday', is a progressive reduction and refinement, from orchestra to duo to, finally, this exceedingly rare context of the a capella solo. Since Coleman Hawkins' 'Picasso', the solo saxophone performance has had a submerged, but important presence in the jazz repertoire. In the 1970s, there were notable solo work from Anthony Braxton, Roscoe Mitchell, and Marion Brown. Shepp is not often put in this context, but his performance here shows him every bit as adept. It's a performance of surpassing beauty and grace.
(Information about Shepp's performance schedule taken from here: lpogost.neocities.org/archieshepp)
