| Archie Shepp | |
|---|---|
 Archie Shepp in Warsaw, 2008 |
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| Background information | |
| Born | May 24, 1937 Fort Lauderdale, Florida, U.S. |
| Genres | Jazz |
| Occupations | Composer, saxophonist, pianist |
| Instruments | Tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, piano, vocals |
| Years active | 1960–present |
| Labels | Impulse!, SteepleChase Arista, Delmark, BYG Actuel |
| Associated acts | Cecil Taylor 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-Americans, 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]
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Biography [link]
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'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 late 1964, 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 dove 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.
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, he spoke out for civil rights; the former album was a response to the Attica Prison riots.[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.
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. 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.
In 2002, Shepp appeared on the Red Hot Organization's tribute album to Fela Kuti, Red Hot and Riot. Shepp appeared on a track titled "No Agreement" alongside Res, Tony Allen, Ray Lema, Baaba Maal, and Positive Black Soul. In 2004 Archie Shepp founded his own record label, Archieball, together with Monette Berthomier. The label is located in Paris, France, and features collaborations with Jacques Coursil, Monica Passos, Bernard Lubat and Frank Cassenti.
Discography [link]
References [link]
- ^ a b c d e Biography
- ^ Archie Shepp Discography accessed 30 July 2009.
- ^ Farberman, Bradley (29 January 2007), Retired Prof. Archie Shepp discuses legendary career (Arts & Living ed.), United States: The Massachusetts Daily Collegian
- ^ https://social.zune.net/artist/Archie-Shepp/6b1d0000-0600-11db-89ca-0019b92a3933
External links [link]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Archie Shepp |
https://wn.com/Archie_Shepp
Podcasts:
Archie Shepp
ALBUMS
- Voodoo Sense released: 2013
- I Hear the Sound released: 2013
- For Losers / Kwanza released: 2011
- Red Eyes released: 2011
- Wo!man released: 2011
- New Thing at Newport released: 2009
- Soul Song released: 2008
- Passport to Paradise released: 2008
- Phat Jam in Milano released: 2007
- Gemini released: 2007
- Steam released: 2007
- The Impulse Story released: 2006
- The Magic of Ju-Ju released: 2006
- First Take released: 2005
- For Losers released: 2005
- Archie Shepp & The New York Contemporary Five released: 2004
- The Cry of My People released: 2004
- Yasmina, a Black Woman / Poem for Malcolm released: 2003
- Bird Fire released: 2002
- Bill Dixon 7-Tette released: 2001
- Blasé / Live at the Pan-African Festival released: 2001
- Live in New York released: 2001
- St. Louis Blues released: 1999
- True Blue released: 1999
- Live in San Francisco released: 1998
- Mama Too Tight released: 1998
- Something to Live For released: 1997
- Live at the Festival released: 1994
- Lady Bird released: 1994
- A Sea of Faces released: 1993
- Things Have Got To Change released: 1992
- Black Ballads released: 1992
- Duet released: 1990
- En concert à Banlieues Bleues released: 1989
- In Memory Of released: 1989
- Stream released: 1989
- "Live on Broadway" California Meeting released: 1987
- First Set released: 1987
- Mama Rose in Concert released: 1987
- Devil Blues (The Essential Archie Shepp) released: 1986
- Trouble in Mind released: 1986
- Goin' Home released: 1985
- Ballads for Trane released: 1984
- On Green Dolphin Street released: 1984
- Here Comes the Family released: 1981
- I Know About the Life released: 1981
- The House I Live In released: 1980
- Tray of Silver released: 1979
- The Tradition released: 1978
- Hi-Fly released: 1976
- Kwanza released: 1974
- Attica Blues released: 1972
- Black Gipsy released: 1970
- Poem for Malcolm released: 1969
- Blasé released: 1969
- The Way Ahead released: 1968
- On This Night released: 1966
- Fire Music released: 1965
- Four for Trane released: 1964
- The Long March Part 1 released:
- Les Génies Du Jazz, VI 06 - Archie Shepp (The Free Jazz Tenorman) released:
- Archie Shepp Meets Kahil El'Zabar's Ritual Trio: Conversations released:
- Attica Blues Big Band - Live at the Palais des Glaces released:
- Swing Low, Live in Zurich released:
- Looking at Bird released:
- Day Dream released:
- The Fifth of May released:
- Duo Reunion released:
- Mama Rose released:
- Hungarian Bebop released:
Bill Dixon 7-Tette
Released 2001- Section I Letters A, B, C, D
- Section II Letter E
- Section III Letter F
- Section IV Letter G
- Section V Letter H Played Three Times
- Coda
- The 12th December
- Alternate Take Section III, "F" From Winter Song 1964
- Alternate Take Section III, "F" From Winter Song 1964i
- Where Poppies Bloom (Where Poppies Blow)
- Like a Blessed Baby Lamb
- Consequences
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by Archie Shepp
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by Archie Shepp
Sophisticated Lady
by: Archie SheppThey say into your early life romance came
And in this heart of yours burnt a flame
A flame that flickered one day and died away
Then, with disillusion deep in your eyes
You learned that fools in love soon grow wise
The years have changed you somehow, I see now
SmokingDrinkingNever thinking of tomorrow
Non-chalant Diamonds shining Dancing Dining
With some man in a restaurant
Is that all you really want
No. Sophisticated Lady, I know You miss the love you had long ago
And when nobody is neigh You cry
No. Sophisticated Lady, I know
You miss the love you had long ago