Archie Shepp

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Archie Shepp

Archie Shepp live at Jazzkeller Frankfurt 1993
Background information
Born May 24, 1937 (1937-05-24) (age 72)
Fort Lauderdale, Florida, U.S.
Genres Jazz
Occupations Composer, saxophonist, pianist
Instruments Tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, piano
Years active 1960-present
Labels Impulse!, SteepleChase Arista, Delmark
Associated acts John Coltrane
Horace Parlan
Website www.archieshepp.com

Archie Shepp (born May 24, 1937) is a prominent African-American jazz saxophonist.[1] Shepp is best known for his passionately Afrocentric music of the late 1960s, which focused on highlighting the injustices faced by the African race, as well as for his work with the New York Contemporary Five, Horace Parlan, and his collaborations with his "New Thing" contemporaries, most notably Cecil Taylor and John Coltrane.[1]

Shepp also writes for theater; his works include The Communist (1965) and Lady Day: A Musical Tragedy (1972). Both were produced by Robert Kalfin and the Chelsea Theater Center.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life and career

Shepp was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, but raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he studied piano, clarinet and alto saxophone before focusing on tenor saxophone (he occasionally plays soprano saxophone and piano). Shepp studied drama at Goddard College from 1955 to 1959, but he eventually turned to music professionally.

He played in a Latin jazz band for a short time before joining the band of avant-garde pianist Cecil Taylor. Shepp appeared on Taylor's albums Air, The World of Cecil Taylor and Cell Walk for Celeste.

[edit] 1960s

Shepp's first recording under his own name, Archie Shepp - Bill Dixon Quartet, was released on Savoy Records in 1962, and featured a composition by Ornette Coleman.[2] Further links to Coleman came with the establishment of the New York Contemporary Five, which included Don Cherry. John Coltrane's admiration led to recordings for Impulse Records, the first of which was Four for Trane in 1964, an album of mainly Coltrane compositions on which he was sided by his long-time friend, trombonist Roswell Rudd, bassist Reggie Workman and alto player John Tchicai. The album Giant Steps had been one of Coltrane's best-known.

Shepp participated in the sessions for Coltrane's A Love Supreme in early 1965, but none of the takes he participated in were included on the final LP release (they were made available for the first time on a 2002 reissue). [1] However, Shepp, along with Tchicai and others from the Four for Trane sessions, then cut Ascension with Coltrane in 1965, and his place alongside Coltrane at the forefront of the avant-garde jazz scene was epitomized when the pair split a record (the first side a Coltrane set, the second a Shepp set) entitled New Thing at Newport released in late 1965.

In 1965, Shepp released Fire Music, which included the first signs of his increasingly prominent political consciousness and Afrocentricity; it included the reading of an elegy for Malcolm X, and the title is derived from a ceremonial African music tradition. [1]

The Magic of Ju-Ju in 1967 also took its name from African musical traditions, and this time the music dived headlong into the continent's music, utilising an African percussion ensemble. At this time, many African-American jazzmen were increasingly influenced by various continental African cultural and musical traditions; along with Pharoah Sanders, Shepp was at the forefront of this movement. The Magic of Ju-Ju defined Shepp's sound for the next few years: freeform avant-garde saxophone lines coupled with the rhythms and ideologies of Africa.

[edit] 1970s and after

Archie Shepp in France, 1982

Shepp continued to experiment into the new decade, at various times including harmonica players and spoken word poets in his ensembles. With 1972's Attica Blues and The Cry of My People, meanwhile, he spoke out for civil rights; the former album was a response to the Attica Prison riots. [1]

Beginning in 1971, Shepp began a 30-year career as a professor of music at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Shepp's first two courses were entitled "Revolutionary Concepts in African-American Music" and "Black Musician in the Theater."[3] Shepp was also a professor of African American Studies at SUNY in Buffalo, New York.[4]

In the late 1970s and beyond, Shepp's career went between various old territories and various new ones. He continued to explore African music, while also recording blues, ballads, spirituals (on the 1977 album Goin' Home with Horace Parlan) and tributes to more traditional jazz figures like Charlie Parker and Sidney Bechet, while at other times dabbling in R&B, and recording with various European artists like Jasper van't Hof, Tchangodei and Dresch Mihály. Since the early 1990s, he has often played with the French trumpet player Eric Le Lann, with whom he recorded the album Live in Paris in 1995.

In 2004 Archie Shepp founded his own record label named Archieball together with Monette Berthomier. The Label is located in Paris/France and features works and collaboration with the following musicians Jacques Coursil, Monica Passos, Bernard Lubat and Frank Cassenti.

[edit] Discography

During a concert in Warszawa, Poland in July 2008

[edit] As leader

Impulse! Records
West Wind Records
  • 1979: Bird Fire: A Tribute To Charlie Parker
  • 1981: Passport To Paradise: Archie Shepp plays Sydney Bechet
  • 1982: Mama Rose
  • 1984: Archie Shepp and Jeanne Lee
  • 1995: Sophisticated Lady
Freedom Records
BYG Actuel
Denon Records
Sun Records (jazz)
  • 1977: Parisian Concert Vols. 1 & 2
  • 1977: Live in Europe
  • 1979: Invitation (Siegfried Kessler Trio featuring Archie Shepp)
Steeplechase Records
Horo Records
Black Saint/Soul Note
  • 1975: A Sea of Faces
  • 1982: Soul Song
  • 1985: Little Red Moon
  • 1985: California Meeting: Live on Broadway
Timeless Records
  • 1991: I Didn't Know About You
  • 1995: Lover Man
  • 1997: Something to Live For
  • 2000: Black Ballads
America Records
Circle Records (Germany)
  • 1984: African Moods
  • 1984: Devil Blues
  • 1984: Tenor Saxes
52e Rue Est
  • 1985: Passion
  • 1987: En concert: 1st set
  • 1987: En concert: 2nd set
  • 1989: En concert à Banlieues Bleues
Musica Records
Other labels

[edit] As sideman

With Cecil Taylor

With the New York Contemporary Five

With John Coltrane

With Dave Burrell

With Material

[edit] Filmography

Shepp is featured in the 1981 documentary film Imagine the Sound, in which he discusses and performs his music and poetry.

Shepp also appears in Mystery, Mr. Ra, a 1984 French documentary about Sun Ra. The film also includes footage of Shepp playing with Sun Ra's Arkestra.

Shepp was recently seen acting in a french TV series named "Pigalle, La Nuit" (2009).

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e Biography
  2. ^ Archie Shepp Discography accessed 30 July, 2009.
  3. ^ Farberman, Bradley (29 January 2007), Retired Prof. Archie Shepp discuses legendary career, United States: The Massachusetts Daily Collegian 
  4. ^ http://social.zune.net/artist/Archie-Shepp/6b1d0000-0600-11db-89ca-0019b92a3933

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archie_Shepp"