# CD review: Archie Shepp, Raw Poetic (Jason Moore), Damu The Fudgemunk – Ocean Bridges 2020: Video, CD cover

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2020/07/20/cd-review-archie-shepp-raw-poetic-jason-moore-damu-the-fudgemunk-ocean-bridges-2020-video-cd-cover/
- Published: 2020-07-20T11:42:50+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**On the morning of Sept. 13, 1971, state troopers fired their weapons at prisoners
in Attica Correctional Facility in upstate New York who were protesting the jarring
environs of the facilities during a four-day rebellion. The prisoners under attack
were mostly black and the patrol officers shooting were predominately white. Thirty-
nine people, inmates, and hostages were killed by the gunfire.**

In 1972, jazz saxophonist, educator, and playwright Archie Shepp not only named 
his album Attica Blues to keep that execution branded in the American psyche but
that first song on said release tapped into the electrified rock-funk amalgam penetrating
the cultural zeitgeist at that time. “I got a feeling that something ain’t going
right” sings Carl/Henry Hull in a discerning, high-withered scream. “And I’m worried’
bout the human soul!” The opening title track refers directly to that prison massacre.
Shepp, who played with Coltrane, at the forefront of the avant-garde jazz scene,
opted to record something Sly Stone and James Brown-like that was in the air collectively,
not just his own singular ideas. Shepp was listening and responding in kind.

That practice, attentive listening, resides deeply within Ocean Bridges. A collaborative
project from 83-year-old Shepp, 17 years away from becoming a centenarian, who still
refuses to leave the house without a formal suit on, his nephew Jason Moore aka 
Raw Poetic and producer Damu The Fudgemunk. This entirely improvised session, where
you can practically see the sweat rolling down the walls of the studio, has everybody
listening and mixing it up with no clear endpoint in sight. Recorded last August,
it’s loose and crackerjack rapid-fire as any neighborhood inter-generational barbershop
conversation. Shepp’s approach is one of collaboration, not a soliloquy. Resulting
in a wild, unencumbered free-flowing soulful jazz project, staying off the cuff 
and In the Pocket. Those actions coming from an architect of modern jazz, set in
place what was expected. Through fifteen songs, everybody catches that buzz adding
on to the science, giving way to various ideas rippling throughout and hour or so,
without restriction. As Moore explains in the liners notes, his Uncle had been keeping
track of his nephew’s Emcee development. Asking Moore, over the past 20 years, if
he knew of Public Enemy or Mos Def aka Yasiin Bey, who Shepp did a project with 
along the way. So when the green light was given, Moore and Damu The Fudgemunk were
primed.

“Tulips,” the second released track, feels like a rediscovered lost gem from the
Pete Rock and CL Smooth golden era of hip-hop. I mean, mang. The way Damu arranges
those vibraphones-tingling, Raw Poetic spitting that trouble-free sway tone, with
elder Archie Shepp providing color between the snare hits and bass charts. It just
sparkles. Not stale like a museum showpiece. This is live-breathing hip-hop, captured
in its most funky head-nod-inducing essence, that’s the power of a cipher in action.“
Aperture,” a 12-minute free-form workout, with peaks, snare hits, valleys, picking
guitar and Shepp doling out shrewd context, plying on those sheets of sound, as 
Moore’s scattergorical flow and photogenic word selection give proof to what talent
can do when given proper space to convert vibe and sketches into a composition.

But it’s impossible not to address this present moment. Black People in America 
are rising up, again, in opposition to a government that continually sees fit to
murder us without accountability. We are in the days following the murder of George
Floyd, a 46-year-old Houston native who at one point rapped on Screw Tapes as Big
Floyd, by ex-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. In the midst of a COVID 19
global pandemic, the country burns. Covert operations from fascist and racist factions
descend upon cities, donning masks to commit vandalism, laying the blame on marginalized
people. Black folks and those who side with the cause, loot, steal, burn, scream,
fight—keep pushing back against police who only seem to protect and serve corporations.
While a President drunk with power sits in office, trolling the country on Twitter,
organizing this internal coup.

How all of this all plays out, we have no idea. But this inter-generational listening
on Ocean Bridges between an Uncle and his Nephew, a willingness, a bond among a 
family, creating art, preparing for a future…this Black collectivism is what’s giving
me an ounce of hope today as I survey that Attica Blues record one mo’ gin.

Given the onslaught of jazz recordings that integrate elements of hip-hop and spoken
word, it was only a matter of time before Archie Shepp’s name would end up on one.
For all his renown as a first lieutenant of the avant garde in the ’60s, the great
tenor saxophonist has remained a steady advocate for African-American vernacular
music too. His duo recordings with Horace Parlan showed his facility with the blues,
for instance. The political rage he showed on classics like Fire Music and Attica
Blues has rarely subsided either, and it is both in fashion and entirely reasonable
today.

Ocean Bridges began as a family affair. Raw Poetic, a.k.a. Jason Moore, is Shepp’s
nephew, and 20 years ago the saxophonist jammed to some tracks he had made. They
stayed in touch over the years as Moore’s style evolved and became more expansive.
In 2019, Moore put together a band and Shepp crossed the ocean from France (though
the title is more about the gap between the genres) to join the session.

The 66-minute recording is limber and full of chill grooves punctuated by interludes
enhanced with references to Eddie Harris’ “Freedom Jazz Dance” and John Coltrane’s“
Giant Steps.” The main tracks feature eight musicians, most prominently Damu the
Fudgemunk, a.k.a. Earl Davis, who contributes drums, vibraphone, and turntabling.
The highlights include “Sugar Coat It,” which features exceptionally fluid rapping
from Poetic and a gruff Shepp blowing over and under the rhymes; and “Aperture,”
where the stuttering, cascading drumbeats intertwine with furious blowing. Although
very of its moment, the recording is in the spirit of the early ’70s, when genres
didn’t need bridges to overlap and political consciousness was a given.

1. Valuable Lesson (00:59)
 2. Learning To Breathe (2:05) 3. Professor Shepp’s Agenda
1 (1:25) 4. Tulips (6:03) 5. Professor Shepp’s Agenda 2 (2:28) 6. Aperture (12:36)
7. Professor Shepp’s Agenda 3 (1:37) 8. Moving Maps (6:09) 9. Professor Shepp’s 
Agenda 4 (1:50) 10. Sugar Coat It (8:53) 11. Professor Shepp’s Agenda 5 (00:54) 
12. 12 Hour Parking (6:50) 13. Professor Shepp’s Agenda 6 (2:08) 14. Searching Souls(
7:58) 15. Professor Shepp’s Agenda 7 (4:56)

**Archie Shepp – tenor & soprano sax, wurlitzer electric piano**
 **Earl “Damu The
Fudgemunk” Davis – drums, vibes, back vocal** **Raw Poetic (Jason Moore) – vocal,
raps, lyrics** **Aaron Gause – electric piano & synthesizer** **Luke Stewart – bass&
electric bass** **Jamal Moore – tenor sax & perc** **Bashi Rose – drums & perc.****
Pat Fritz – guitar**

![Archie Shepp Damu the Fudgemunk Ocean Bridges review](https://i0.wp.com/www.treblezine.
com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/5-22-archie-damu.jpg?w=640&ssl=1)

### _Related_