Sonny Rollins
On Impulse!/There Will Never Be Another You
Impulse! Records
www.umusic.com

Shirley Scott
For Members Only/Great Scott!!
Impulse! Records
www.umusic.com

Archie Shepp
For Losers/Kwanzaa
Impulse! Records
www.umusic.com

Gabor Szabo
The Sorcere/More Sorcery
Impulse! Records
www.umusic.com

Pharoah Sanders
Village Of The Pharoahs/Wisdom Through Music
Impulse! Records
www.umusic.com
By George W. Harris

Sometimes, I wonder how music survived the turbulent 60s. Impulse! captured the anger, experimentation and iconoclasm of that period like few other music labels. These releases serve as a time capsule of the vision and excesses of the Johnson/Nixon years.

Sonny Rollins, who’s still gracing this planet with some of his best playing ever, is caught here in 1965 in a studio and concert performance. The gig has him with Tommy Flanagan/p, Bob Cranshaw/b, Billy Higgins-Mickey Roker/dr and the studion sessionis with Ray Bryant/p, Walter Brooker/b and Mickey Roker/dr. Lots of the material is repeated, but the versions are quite longer in concert, with a 17 minute marathon of “On Green Dolphin Street” pushing one’s ability to concentrate. This, and other tunes, like “Three Little Words” have Rollins sounding a bit thin in tone, and distracted on his solos. The Caribbean “Hold ‘em Joe” is his most focus performance, but this period was not Rollins’ zenith. He was so much older then; he’s younger than that now.

Shirley Scott was sort of a stripped down Jimmy Smith, putting out some serious soul stuff with Stanley Turrentine. In 1963, she put out a trio disc that sounds a bit like between innings music at Dodger Stadium, with “I’ve Grown Accustomed To Her Face” only needing a hot dog and Coke to make the mood complete. A big band that includes heavyweights Thad Jones, Mundell Lowe, Jimmy Cobbr, Ernie Royal and Cecil Payne gets a bit of the churchified soul on “We’re Goin’ Home” and “Southern Comfort.” Scott keeps it basic here, with a disc that is reminiscent of Smith’s big band work with Wes Montgomery.

Archie Shepp was one of the prototypical Impulse! artists; black, armed with a tenor sax, and part of the avant garde/civil rights movement. These sessions from the early 70s have him mixing rural R&B, soul and over the top modal with like minded jazz rebels like “Grachan Moncur III/tb, James Spaulding/as-fl, Beaver Harris/dr, Joe Chambers/dr-perc, Cedar Walton/p, Woody Shaw/tp and a host of others. There are some beautiful moments here, as on the ballad “What Would It Be Without You” that features Shepp with Cecil Payne’s luscious flute. The incessant piano groove of “Slow Drag” includes an incendiary solo by Shaw as well. The other stuff may raise some eyebrows, such as some singing by Andy Bey and Shepp’s turn at the mic on “New Africa.” Above all, Shepp could just stand a few lessons on embouchure, as his tone veers toward distraction too many times. My sax teacher would’ve had a field day here.

One of the overlooked giants of jazz guitar, Gabor Szabo put out a bunch of classic releases for Impulse in the mid to late 60s. This concert collection from 1967 has him fronting a lithe and gypsy-inspired team of Jimmy Stewart/g, Bill Goodwing/dr, Lajos Kabok/b and Hal Gordon/perc. His picking style and use of sounds and space on his songs like “Spellbinder” and “Coming Back” make you wonder how much of an influence he was on Pat Metheny, while his entrancing “Corcovado” and mind-bending “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” create a bohemian mood like the Piazza Navona. The interplay between the two guitarist on “Space” contains some of the best pas de deux you’ll experience. A wondrous collection of guitar work.

Pharoah Sanders, along with Shepp, is also one of the Impulse! poster musicians. Still with us today, he also presently sounds better than ever, with a Ben Websterish tone that is hard to beat. Here, he’s still in the Pan-African Mysticism period of his career, mixing modal/avant garde jazz with vocals, percussion and drones. The basic team of Joe Bonner/dr, Cecil McBee/b, Norman Connor/dr and Lawrence Killian/perc is featured on both 73 sessions, but is supplemented by the likes of Stanley Clarke/b, a collection of vocalists including Sedatrous Brown, and a bucketload of percussionists. The three part “Village” has Sanders playing soprano, percussion and “singing” all over a Middle Eastern framework that is quite and endurance test, while “Memories of Lee Morgan” is a bit more like it, with Sanders’ soprano melding with Art Webb’s flute. Drums, chants and singing with flute make up “Love Is Everywhere” while eleven minutes of chanting with tenor and percussion on “Selflessness” make it a true geographic song-just guess you had to be there.