Blue Ballads
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox album
| name = Blue Ballads
| type = album
| artist = Archie Shepp
| cover = Blue Ballads.jpg
| alt =
| released = March 1996
| recorded = 24–25 November 1995
| venue =
| studio = Clinton Studio "A", New York City
| genre = Jazz
| length =
| label = Venus
{{small|TKCV-79307}}
| producer =
| chronology = Archie Shepp
| prev_title = The Rising Sun Collection
| prev_year = 19924
| next_title = True Ballads
| next_year = 1997
}}
Blue Ballads is an album by saxophonist Archie Shepp and his quartet which was recorded in New York City in 1995 and released on the Venus label.[https://www.discogs.com/Archie-Shepp-Quartet-Blue-Ballads/release/2568591 Discogs:Blue Ballads: Archie Shepp Quartet] accessed October 14, 2018
Reception
{{Music ratings
| rev1 = AllMusic
| rev1Score = {{rating|4.5|5}}
}}
The AllMusic review by arwulf arwulf called it and its counterparts Black Ballads, and True Ballads "intimate studies in shared introspection...[that] document Shepp's astute exploration of the ballad form during the 1990s...Once again and in all the best ways, Shepp shines in parallel with his contemporary Pharoah Sanders. Both are skilled balladeers as well as free spirits who simply cannot be bottled or pigeonholed".{{AllMusic|first=arwulf |last=arwulf |class=album |id=blue-ballads-mw0000768737|title= Archie Shepp: Blue Ballads – Review |accessdate=October 14, 2018}}
Track listing
- "Little Girl Blue" (Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart) – 6:03
- "More Than You Know" (Billy Rose, Edward Eliscu, Vincent Youmans) – 7:18
- "Blue in Green" (Bill Evans, Miles Davis) – 7:58
- "Blue and Sentimental" (Count Basie) – 5:12
- "Cry Me a River" (Arthur Hamilton) – 7:54
- "If I Should Lose You" (Leo Robin, Ralph Rainger) – 7:32
- "Alone Together" (Arthur Schwartz, Howard Dietz) – 10:51
Personnel
Musicians
- Archie Shepp – tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, vocals
- George Mraz – bass
- John Hicks – piano
- Idris Muhammad – drums
Production
- Tetsuo Hara – producer
- Troy Halderson – engineer
- Brock South – assistant engineer
- Shuji Kitamura – mastering
- Iruka Studio – design
- Dennis Stock – cover photography
References
{{reflist}}
{{Archie Shepp}}
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