A Dialogue with Archie Shepp
The Great African-American Classical Art-Form
Abstract from Scott Cashman interview.
As always many have tried to mystify "so-called free jazz" or playing outside with intellectual trappings, this was a music of expression - an expression of the times. The so-called free jazz, or avant-garde, movement began in the late ’50’s with the inventions of artists such as Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane and Cecil Taylor. Following their lead, Archie Shepp, Pharoah Sanders, Don Cherry and other younger musicians in the ’60’s further stretched the boundaries of the jazz idiom by refusing to allow structure to inhibit free expression.
Although they dispensed with many of the rules that previously governed so-called jazz, this music was not chaotic; all the good so-called free jazz had an underlying structure and an artistic concept.
Moreover, these were artists with a social conscience. They were keenly aware of the Civil Rights Movement, and they were participants and contributors to the cause. As African- Americans across the country were creating a social revolution, Archie Shepp and other musicians were creating a musical revolution. Song titles like Shepp’s "Malcolm, Malcolm - Semper Malcolm", reflected this awareness. Perhaps this political agenda was one of the factors that prevented so-called free jazz from reaching a broader audience.
The music and ideas of Archie Shepp have been much examined. His impact on so-called jazz has been substantial from both a musical and political perspective; his artistic vitality and social understanding - as a saxophonist, composer, poet, playwright and educator - have continued through to the present. Today, Shepp’s music seeks to explore more traditional forms of so-called jazz, while incorporating ideas advanced in the ’60’s.
Key words: free jazz, avant-garde, idiom, civil rights movement, African-Americans, composers, poet, playwright, educator
Live in San Francisco Liner notes:
This Impulse recording features the fiery tenor Archie Shepp with his regularly working group of the period, a quintet also featuring trombonist Roswell Rudd, drummer Beaver Harris and both Donald Garrett and Lewis Worrell on basses. Although two pieces (Shepp's workout on piano on the ballad "Sylvia" and his recitation on "The Wedding") are departures, the quintet sounds particularly strong onHerbie Nichols' "The Lady Sings the Blues" and "Wherever June Bugs Go" while Shepp's ballad statement on "In a Sentimental Mood" is both reverential and eccentric.
