How Trane Helped Archie Shepp

 

From Bret "Jazz Video Guy" Primack.

Born Archie Vernon Shepp on May 24, 1937, in Fort Lauderdale, FL; married, 1959. Education: Bachelor's degree in drama from Goddard College, Plainfield, VT, 1959; further studies at Hunter College and New School for Social Research, New York City. Addresses: Office--W.E.B. DuBois Department of African-American Studies, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Amherst, MA 01003. E-mail--archie@archieshepp.com. Website--Archie Shepp Official Website: http://www.archieshepp.com.

Although his style is wildly diverse, saxophonist Archie Shepp is best known as a pioneer of free jazz, a branch of the musical form originating in the late 1950s that centered around such concepts as collective improvisation, dissonance, layered sound, fragmented melody, and unorthodox rhythms. Shepp, who is also a playwright, critic, composer, and teacher, is equally known for his outspoken political views, especially with regard to race, which came to the fore both in interviews and on such albums as Poem for Malcolm, Attica Blues, and Cry of My People. While always highly regarded by critics, Shepp has never gained popular success and has attributed his lack of mainstream appeal to both his political candor and his refusal to bow to the demands of the music industry or funding bodies which, for example, often required that written scores accompany grant proposals.

Shepp was born on May 24, 1937, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, but spent most of his youth in Philadelphia, where he attended Germantown High School. He credits his parents as his earliest musical influences--his father played banjo and his mother sang, exposing him to the music of jazz masters like Duke Ellington, Oscar Pettiford, Ben Webster, and Illinois Jacquet. The Shepps also enrolled their son in music lessons, where he learned to play both piano and clarinet. While still a teenager, his aunt and grandmother bought him an alto saxophone; he has been playing the instrument ever since.

Called John Coltrane a "Mentor"

Equally profound was Coltrane's influence, which Shepp credits with bringing up a generation of jazz artists. "Trane is the guy that created us, in a way. He believed in us. He was our mentor," he told Cashman. The influence was enduring. "John has always been a great experience for me," he said in a 1982 issue of Down Beat. "Now, I listen to his music constantly, and study it as one would the works of Beethoven or Bach."

Shepp played in Taylor's quartet from 1960 until 1962, when he released Archie Shepp-Bill Dixon Quartet with trumpeter Bill Dixon on Savoy Records. The following year Shepp formed the short-lived New York Contemporary Five with cornetist Don Cherry, alto saxophonist John Tchicai, bassist Don Moore, and drummer J.C. Moses. The group released a critically acclaimed self-titled debut. Shepp began to draw greater notice after the quintet dissolved and he struck out on his own, releasing 1964's Archie Shepp and Four for Trane, 1965's Fire Music, Further Fire Music, and On This Night. He also played on Coltrane's 1965 release Ascension.

Fire Music offered a taste of Shepp's growing concern with politics and race, featuring the poetry-infused track "Malcolm, Malcolm--Semper Malcolm," a tribute to the slain Malcolm X, which Gary Giddings in The Black Composer Speaks called "almost certainly the best poetry-and-jazz side ever made." Shepp elaborated, explaining, "In terms of my own social-political being, I've tried for example to include poetry as an adjunct to the music because I feel that at some point we have to be more specific in addressing ourselves to a racist society."

Created Single Style from Many Influences

Shepp's vast influences and singular style drew widespread critical notice. "Quite a few people hear 'a new-wave Ben Webster,'" wrote LeRoi Jones in a 1965 issue of Down Beat. "Others hear a strong Sonny Rollins influence; still others hear Coltrane's presence in the Shepp approach to the tenor saxophone. But it seems certain that what these listeners really hear is a musician whose emotional registrations are so broad that he is able to make reference to anybody's 'style,' even though finally all the ideas and images that make up his playing are completely his own.... In listening to Shepp, the only real influence one can discern is 'everything.'"