MEDIUM Vinyl Record
WEIGHT 180gr (black Vinyl) 33rpm
CONDITION sealed
COVER Standard
CONDITION COVER M mint
COVER DAMAGES No, we take care about that
SERIALNUMBER No
LIMITED Yes
MISCELLANEOUS Stereo
MUSICIAN HOMEPAGE --
Cal Massey - trumpet
Julius Watkins - french horn
Patti Brown - piano
Jimmy Garrison - bass
Hugh Brodie - tenor sax
G. T. Hogan - drums
blues to coltrane - 9:11
what's wrong? - 3:44
bakai - 8:15
these are soulful days - 8:15
father and son - 11:21
In examining Massey’s life and music, three names continually emerge
One is that of the great tenor saxophonist John Coltrane, whom Massey met as a teenager in Philadelphia and who remained a close friend until his death in 1967
After Coltrane’s passing, Massey frequently joined forces with saxophonist, poet, and playwright Archie Shepp; though Shepp was about ten years Massey’s junior, the two developed a bond that remained close for the rest of the older man’s life
Massey, Coltrane, and Shepp are all linked by the prolific but obscure composer and arranger Romulus Franceschini, who lent his hand to many important jazz projects, such as Coltrane’s "Africa/Brass" and Shepp’s "Attica Blues"
He maintained with Massey a symbiotic relationship not unlike that of Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington
On the whole, as in the case of Ellington and Strayhorn, it was difficult to tell where one musician’s contribution ended and the other’s began
Massey also shared a radical political stance with Shepp and Franceschini
It is impossible to separate his work from the militant arm of the Civil Rights Movement that took shape in the 1960s and 1970s
As Fred Ho has noted, »Titles such as "[Hey Goddamn It]", "Things Have Got To Change", "The Damned Don’t Cry", and "The Cry Of My People" spoke directly to a consciousness of oppression and a politics of liberation«
In fact, the Black Panthers were a driving force behind Massey’s creation (with Franceschini) of "The Black Liberation Movement Suite"
At the first Pan-African Arts Festival in Algiers in 1969 Massey met exiled Panthers leader Eldridge Cleaver who commissioned the Suite primarily as a fundraising venture
The work would be performed at Black Panther benefits three times during Massey’s lifetime
Massey paid heavy dues for his adventurous music and ideology, as did many of his contemporaries
According to his widow, an altercation with an executive at Blue Note Records resulted in his being blacklisted (or, as Fred Ho put it, »whitelisted«) from major recording companies
As a result, only one album was recorded under his name, "Blues To Coltrane", recorded 1961 and released 1987
Massey died on October 25 1972 from a heart attack at the age of 44 in New York City
RECORDING January 13 1961 at Nola Penthouse Sound Studio, New York City
ENGINEERING Bob d'Orleans
LABEL Candid
RE MASTERING Ray Staff
RE RELEASED 2019
AVERAGE RATING 4 ½ Stars out of 5
PRESSING by Pallas
MADE IN England / Germany
STYLE Jazz / Hard Bop
AVAILABLE as long as inventory stock