Archie Shepp
Encyclopedia
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
saxophonist. Shepp is best known for his passionately Afrocentric
Afrocentrism
Afrocentrism is cultural ideology mostly limited to the United States, dedicated to the history of Black people a response to global racist attitudes about African people and their historical contributions by revisiting this history with an African cultural and ideological center...
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
Horace Parlan
Horace Parlan is an American hard bop and post-bop piano player.He is noted for his contributions to the classic Charles Mingus recordings Mingus Ah Um and Blues & Roots....
, and his collaborations with his "New Thing" contemporaries, most notably Cecil Taylor
Cecil Taylor
Cecil Percival Taylor is an American pianist and poet. Classically trained, Taylor is generally acknowledged as one of the pioneers of free jazz. His music is characterized by an extremely energetic, physical approach, producing complex improvised sounds, frequently involving tone clusters and...
and John Coltrane
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...
.
Biography
Shepp was born in Fort Lauderdale, FloridaFlorida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, but raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, where he studied piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
and alto saxophone
Alto saxophone
The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in 1841. It is smaller than the tenor but larger than the soprano, and is the type most used in classical compositions...
before focusing on tenor saxophone
Tenor saxophone
The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble...
(he occasionally plays soprano saxophone
Soprano saxophone
The soprano saxophone is a variety of the saxophone, a woodwind instrument, invented in 1840. The soprano is the third smallest member of the saxophone family, which consists of the soprillo, sopranino, soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, bass, contrabass and tubax.A transposing instrument pitched in...
and piano). Shepp studied drama at Goddard College
Goddard College
Goddard College is a private, liberal arts college located in Plainfield, Vermont, offering undergraduate and graduate degree programs. Goddard College currently operates on an intensive low-residency model...
from 1955 to 1959, but he eventually turned to music professionally.He played in a Latin jazz
Latin jazz
Latin jazz is the general term given to jazz with Latin American rhythms.The three main categories of Latin Jazz are Brazilian, Cuban and Puerto Rican:# Brazilian Latin Jazz includes bossa nova...
band for a short time before joining the band of avant-garde pianist Cecil Taylor
Cecil Taylor
Cecil Percival Taylor is an American pianist and poet. Classically trained, Taylor is generally acknowledged as one of the pioneers of free jazz. His music is characterized by an extremely energetic, physical approach, producing complex improvised sounds, frequently involving tone clusters and...
. Shepp's first recording under his own name, Archie Shepp - Bill Dixon Quartet, was released on Savoy Records
Savoy Records
Savoy Records is an American record label specializing in jazz, R&B and gospel. Starting in the mid 1940s, Savoy played an important part in popularizing bebop.Savoy Records is an American record label specializing in jazz, R&B and gospel. Starting in the mid 1940s, Savoy played an important part...
in 1962, and featured a composition by Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman is an American saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter and composer. He was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1960s....
. Further links to Coleman came with the establishment of the New York Contemporary Five
New York Contemporary Five
The New York Contemporary Five was an avant-garde jazz ensemble active in the first half of the 1960s.It has been described as "a group which, despite its ... short lease on life, has considerable historical significance", laying "the cornerstone of what might be called the mainstream of free jazz"...
, which included Don Cherry
Don Cherry (jazz)
Donald Eugene Cherry was an innovative African-American jazz cornetist whose career began with a long association with saxophonist Ornette Coleman. He went on to live in many parts of the world and work with a wide variety of musicians.-Biography:Cherry was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and...
. John Coltrane
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...
's admiration led to recordings for Impulse Records, the first of which was Four for Trane
Four for Trane
Four for Trane is a studio album by Archie Shepp released on Impulse! Records in 1964. Three of the five tracks are reworkings of pieces originally recorded on co-producer John Coltrane's 1960 Giant Steps, rearranged by Shepp and Roswell Rudd....
in 1964, an album of mainly Coltrane compositions on which he was sided by his long-time friend, trombonist
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
Roswell Rudd
Roswell Rudd
Roswell Rudd is a Grammy Award-nominated American jazz trombonist and composer....
, bassist Reggie Workman
Reggie Workman
Reginald "Reggie" Workman is an American avant-garde jazz and hard bop double bassist, recognized for his work with both John Coltrane and Art Blakey....
and alto
Alto saxophone
The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in 1841. It is smaller than the tenor but larger than the soprano, and is the type most used in classical compositions...
player John Tchicai
John Tchicai
John Martin Tchicai is a Danish jazz saxophonist. He was one of the earliest European free jazz musicians. He is of Danish and Congolese descent....
. The album Giant Steps
Giant Steps
-Personnel:* John Coltrane — tenor saxophone* Tommy Flanagan — piano* Wynton Kelly — piano on "Naima"* Paul Chambers — bass* Art Taylor — drums* Jimmy Cobb — drums on "Naima"* Cedar Walton — piano on "Giant Steps' and Naima" alternate versions...
had been one of Coltrane's best-known.
Shepp participated in the sessions for Coltrane's A Love Supreme
A Love Supreme
A Love Supreme is a studio album recorded by John Coltrane's quartet in December 1964 and released by Impulse! Records in February 1965...
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). However, Shepp, along with Tchicai and others from the Four for Trane
Four for Trane
Four for Trane is a studio album by Archie Shepp released on Impulse! Records in 1964. Three of the five tracks are reworkings of pieces originally recorded on co-producer John Coltrane's 1960 Giant Steps, rearranged by Shepp and Roswell Rudd....
sessions, then cut Ascension with Coltrane in 1965, and his place alongside Coltrane at the forefront of the avant-garde jazz
Avant-garde jazz
Avant-garde jazz is a style of music and improvisation that combines avant-garde art music and composition with jazz. Avant-jazz often sounds very similar to free jazz, but differs in that, despite its distinct departure from traditional harmony, it has a predetermined structure over which ...
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
New Thing at Newport
New Thing at Newport is a 1965 album by jazz musicians John Coltrane and Archie Shepp.-Original LP release New Thing at Newport :Side One# Spoken introduction to John Coltrane's set by Father Norman O'Connor - 1:08...
released in late 1965.
In 1965, Shepp released Fire Music
Fire Music
Fire Music is a studio album by Archie Shepp released on Impulse! Records in 1965. "Malcolm, Malcolm Semper Malcolm" is dedicated to Malcolm X, whilst "Los Olvidados" is a homage to the film of the same name. The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow states "This particular early Archie Shepp recording...
, which included the first signs of his increasingly prominent political consciousness and Afrocentricity; it included the reading of an elegy for Malcolm X
Malcolm X
Malcolm X , born Malcolm Little and also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz , was an African American Muslim minister and human rights activist. To his admirers he was a courageous advocate for the rights of African Americans, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its...
, and the title is derived from a ceremonial African music tradition. The Magic of Ju-Ju
The Magic of Ju-Ju
The Magic of Ju-Ju is an album by Archie Shepp released on Impulse! Records in 1967. The album contains tracks recorded by Shepp, Martin Banks, Mike Zwerin, Reggie Workman, Norman Connors, Frank Charles, Dennis Charles, Ed Blackwell and Beaver Harris in April 1967...
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
Pharoah Sanders
Pharoah Sanders is a Grammy Award–winning American jazz saxophonist.Saxophonist Ornette Coleman once described him as "probably the best tenor player in the world." Emerging from John Coltrane's groups of the mid-60s Sanders is known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on...
, 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
Harmonica
The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
players and spoken word
Spoken word
Spoken word is a form of poetry that often uses alliterated prose or verse and occasionally uses metered verse to express social commentary. Traditionally it is in the first person, is from the poet’s point of view and is themed in current events....
poets in his ensembles. With 1972's Attica Blues
Attica Blues (album)
Attica Blues is an album by avant-garde jazz saxophonist Archie Shepp. Originally released in 1972 on the Impulse! label, the album title is a direct reference to the Attica Prison riots...
and The Cry of My People
The Cry of My People
The Cry of My People is an album by avant-garde jazz saxophonist Archie Shepp released in 1972 on the Impulse! label. The album features performances by Shepp with gospel singers, big bands, quintets, sextets, and chamber orchestras...
, he spoke out for civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
; the former album was a response to the Attica Prison riots
Attica Prison riots
The Attica Prison riot occurred at the Attica Correctional Facility in Attica, New York, United States in 1971. The riot was based in part upon prisoners' demands for better living conditions...
. Shepp also writes for theater; his works include The Communist (1965) and Lady Day: A Musical Tragedy (1972). Both were produced by Robert Kalfin
Robert Kalfin
Robert Zangwill Kalfin is an American stage director and producer who has worked on and off Broadway and at regional theaters throughout the country. He is a former artistic director of the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and the founder/artistic director of The Chelsea Theater...
and the Chelsea Theater Center
Chelsea Theater Center
The Chelsea Theater Center was a not-for-profit theater company founded in 1965 by Robert Kalfin, a graduate of the Yale School of Drama. It opened its doors in a church in the Chelsea district of Manhattan, then moved to the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 1968, where it was in residence for ten...
.
Beginning in 1971, Shepp began a 30-year career as a professor of music at the University of Massachusetts Amherst
University of Massachusetts Amherst
The University of Massachusetts Amherst is a public research and land-grant university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States and the flagship of the University of Massachusetts system...
. Shepp's first two courses were entitled "Revolutionary Concepts in African-American Music" and "Black Musician in the Theater." Shepp was also a professor of African American Studies at SUNY
State University of New York
The State University of New York, abbreviated SUNY , is a system of public institutions of higher education in New York, United States. It is the largest comprehensive system of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the United States, with a total enrollment of 465,000 students, plus...
in Buffalo, New York
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
.
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
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
, ballads, spirituals (on the 1977 album Goin' Home
Goin' Home (album)
Goin' Home is a studio album by American jazz saxophonist Archie Shepp and pianist Horace Parlan, released in 1977 on SteepleChase Records. It is the first of a series of duet records featuring the two musicians. The album was recorded in one session at Sweet Silence Studios in Copenhagen and was...
with Horace Parlan
Horace Parlan
Horace Parlan is an American hard bop and post-bop piano player.He is noted for his contributions to the classic Charles Mingus recordings Mingus Ah Um and Blues & Roots....
) and tributes to more traditional jazz figures like Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....
and Sidney Bechet
Sidney Bechet
Sidney Bechet was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer.He was one of the first important soloists in jazz , and was perhaps the first notable jazz saxophonist...
, 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
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
player Eric Le Lann
Éric Le Lann
Éric Le Lann is a French jazz trumpeter.He moved to Paris in 1977 where he had his professional debut and gained notice in 1980. He has worked with Aldo Romano, Henri Salvador, and others. He also did music for films including those of Bertrand Tavernier...
. Shepp is featured in the 1981 documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
Imagine the Sound
Imagine the Sound
Imagine the Sound is a 1981 Canadian documentary film about free jazz, directed by Ron Mann. It features interviews with and musical and dramatic performances by pianist Cecil Taylor, saxophonist Archie Shepp, trumpeter Bill Dixon and pianist Paul Bley. The film has been digitally restored and was...
, in which he discusses and performs his music and poetry. Shepp also appears in Mystery, Mr. Ra, a 1984 French documentary about Sun Ra
Sun Ra
Sun Ra was a prolific jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, poet and philosopher known for his "cosmic philosophy," musical compositions and performances. He was born in Birmingham, Alabama...
. The film also includes footage of Shepp playing with Sun Ra's Arkestra.
In 2002, Shepp appeared on the Red Hot Organization
Red Hot Organization
Red Hot Organization is a not-for-profit, 501 3, international organization dedicated to fighting AIDS through pop culture.Since its inception in 1989, over 400 artists, producers and directors have contributed to over 15 compilation albums, related television programs and media events to raise...
's tribute album to Fela Kuti
Fela Kuti
Fela Anikulapo Kuti , or simply Fela , was a Nigerian multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, pioneer of Afrobeat music, human rights activist, and political maverick.-Biography:...
, Red Hot and Riot. Shepp appeared on a track titled "No Agreement" alongside Res, Tony Allen
Tony Allen (musician)
Tony Oladipo Allen is aNigerian drummer, composer, and songwriter who currently lives and works in Paris. He is currently writing his autobiography "Tony Allen: Master Drummer of Afrobeat" with author/musician Michael E...
, Ray Lema
Ray Lema
Raymond Lema A'nsi Nzinga, known as Ray Lema, is a Congolese musician born March 30, 1946 in Lufu-Toto, Bas-Congo Province.Lema is a pianist, guitarist, and songwriter. He worked for the National Ballet of Zaire, as it was then called, and in 1979 was invited to the United States by the...
, Baaba Maal
Baaba Maal
Baaba Maal is a Senegalese singer and guitarist born in Podor, on the Senegal River. In addition to acoustic guitar, he also plays percussion. He has released several albums, both for independent and major labels. In July 2003, he was made a UNDP Youth Emissary.-Biography:Born 12 November 1953...
, and Positive Black Soul
Positive Black Soul
Positive Black Soul is a hip hop group based in Dakar, Senegal, one of the first such collectives in the country. Founded in 1989, the group is composed of Didier Sourou Awadi and Amadou Barry , both of whom had previously been in other hip hop groups...
. 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.