Sweet Freedom - Now What? Explained

Sweet Freedom - Now What?
Type:	Studio
Artist:	Joe McPhee
Cover:	Sweet_Freedom_-_Now_What.jpg
Released:	1995
Recorded:	July 27 & 28, 1994
Venue:	Radio DRS Zürich, Switzerland
Genre:	Jazz
Length:	72:31
Label:	HatHut hat ART CD 6162
Producer:	Pia & Werner X. Uehlinger
Chronology:	Joe McPhee
Prev Title:	Impressions of Jimmy Giuffre
Prev Year:	1991
Next Title:	McPhee/Parker/Lazro
Next Year:	1995

Sweet Freedom - Now What? is an album by multi-instrumentalist and composer Joe McPhee, recorded in 1994 and first released on the Swiss HatHut label.^[1]

Reception

Allmusic reviewer Alex Henderson states "In 1994, Joe McPhee entered a studio in Zurich, Switzerland and recorded this thoughtful yet chance-taking response to Max Roach's ambitious Freedom Now Suite of 1960 ... McPhee doesn't treat Roach's compositions like museum pieces; instead, he embraces them on his own terms and brings many of his own ideas to the table ... the element of surprise is exactly what McPhee is going for on this rewarding, AACM-influenced inside/outside date".

Track listing

All compositions by Max Roach except as indicated

1. "Mendacity (slow)" (Roach, C. Bayen) - 4:34
2. "Driva Man" (Roach, Oscar Brown, Jr.) - 4:21
3. "Roost 2" (Lisle Ellis) - 4:27
4. "Self Portrait/Lift Every Voice and Sing" (Roach/James Weldon Johnson, J. Rosamond Johnson) - 9:50
5. "Singing With a Sword in My Hand" (Traditional) - 1:23
6. "Roost 1" (Ellis) - 2:25
7. "Garvey's Ghost" - 12:45
8. "Approaching the Smoke That Thunders" (Ellis) - 4:53
9. "Triptych: (Prayer, Protest)/Prolepsis" (Max Roach/Paul Plimley) - 7:54
10. "Mendacity (fast)" (Roach, Bayen) - 6:02
11. "A Head of the Heartbeat" (Paul Plimley) - 3:38
12. "The Persistence of Rosewood" (Joe McPhee) - 9:39
13. "Roost (Coda)" (Ellis) - 0:40

Personnel

• Joe McPhee - tenor saxophone, soprano clarinet, alto clarinet
  • Lisle Ellis - bass Paul Plimley - piano

Notes and References

1. http://joemcphee.com/sweet-freedom,-now-what.html Joe McPhee discography