The Sugar Hill Suite Explained

The Sugar Hill Suite
Type:Studio
Artist:Trio X
Cover:The Sugar Hill Suite.jpg
Released:2004
Recorded:October 19, 2004 at The Spirit Room in Rossie, New York.
Genre:Jazz
Label:CIMP CIMP 320
Producer:Bob Rusch
Chronology:Joe McPhee
Prev Title:In Finland
Prev Year:2004
Next Year:2005

The Sugar Hill Suite is an album performed by multi-instrumentalist Joe McPhee's Trio X recorded in 2004 and first released on the CIMP label.[1]

Reception

In JazzTimes Marc Masters wrote "The Sugar Hill Suite alternates between slow meditations and swinging vamps. The opening "For Agusta Savage" is mournful, as McPhee traces an Ornette Coleman-ish tenor sax pattern. Later, "Triple Play" and "Monk's Waltz" are catchy yet reflective, at times even serene. This affinity for combining the somber with the upbeat peaks on the stunning 16-minute title track".[2] On All About Jazz Kurt Gottschalk said "There's plenty of payoff in The Sugar Hill Suite, an oddly plaintive dedication to the spirit of Harlem. Far from the jazz-renaissance throwback that might be expected, it is luxuriously languid".[3]

Track listing

All compositions by Joe McPhee, Dominic Duval and Jay Rosen

  1. "For Agusta Savage" - 5:26
  2. "Triple Play" - 8:08
  3. "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child" (Traditional) - 7:15
  4. "Drop Me Off in Harlem" (Duke Ellington) - 6:53
  5. "The Sugar Hill Suite" - 16:51
  6. "Little Sunflower" - 11:32
  7. "Monk's Waltz" - 4:43
  8. "Goin' Home" - 6:55

Personnel

Notes and References

  1. http://joemcphee.com/the-sugar-hill-suite.html Joe McPhee discography
  2. Masters, M., Jazztimes Review, January/February 2006
  3. Gottschalk, K., All About Jazz Review, May 1, 2005