ARCHIE SHEPP & JASON MORAN - Let My People Go
Archieball, 2021
Archie Shepp (tenor saxophone); Jason Moran (piano)
Recorded on September 12th 2017 at La Philharmonie de Paris, during Jazz à la Villette Festival, on November 9th 2018 at the Alte Feuerwache Mannheim, during Enjoy Jazz Festival.
The album was recorded during two performances in Paris and Mannheim
‘Isfahan’ Archie Shepp caresses the beautiful theme with all the gruff panache and sensitivity that the years have given him. When he is joined by Jason Moran the contrast is complete: the weary jazz veteran contrasted with the clarity of the young jazz artist.
My first sight of Archie Shepp was at a concert in London in 1967. Miles Davis and his great quintet opened the concert at JazzExpo at Hammersmith. They were followed by the Archie Shepp group who aggressively turned their instruments to the audience and played as if they wanted to vent all the black outrage being played out in the US. Jazz as projectile, so fierce and unrelenting that many in the audience simply got up and walked out. It felt like being at the premiere of ‘The Rite of Spring’
Archie Shepp is not now the innovator he once presented himself as. He has grown, turning into a guardian of the tradition rather than the disruptive revolutionary of 60 years ago.
In ‘Jitterbug Waltz’ by Fats Waller the notes cascade down from both the soprano and the piano. The wonderful theme unwinds. Shepp has forgotten about his avant-garde credentials; Moran is just intent on exploration. Another Waller piece ‘Ain’t Misbehavin’’ has a vocal from Shepp and reverential piano from Moran.
‘Wise One’ is from Coltrane’s album ‘Crescent’. and Shepp embellishes the melody with religious care and his own ideas while Moran plays retooled Tyner vamps. The playing hiere from both men is emotive and spellbinding.
Billy Strayhorn’s ‘Lush Life’ has a beautiful melody with faux sophisticated lyrics . Shepp feels his way through the complexities of the song and his reading is both idiosyncratic and moving. However, Shepp’s singing towards the end is not in the spirit of the piece.
Since the sixties Shepp has continued his political activism and his playing has deepened, become more aware, more expressive, excavating the roots, not seeking the spurious popularity.
There is a weariness about Shepp , not tiredness but heavy with experience. When he sings and he does occasionally on this album, his notes have the timbre of a veteran blues singer who is past caring how they sound to you.
Moran reveres the past in a way that does not disfigure his present. He can pay homage to the past as he did recently with his tributes to Mingus and Fats Waller. His Harlem Hellfighters remembers the soldiers who were led by Lieutenant James Reese Europe, soldiers who brought jazz to troops across the continent at the time of the first world war. Moran has also been praised for his multimedia art works.
The achievement of both men, at different stages in life is compressed into the album. What I will remember is the depth and rugged beauty of Shepp’s tenor sound and the way that Moran’s playing manages to unite the past with the present.
Reviewed by Jack Kenny
Archieball, 2021
Archie Shepp (tenor saxophone); Jason Moran (piano)
Recorded on September 12th 2017 at La Philharmonie de Paris, during Jazz à la Villette Festival, on November 9th 2018 at the Alte Feuerwache Mannheim, during Enjoy Jazz Festival.
The album was recorded during two performances in Paris and Mannheim
‘Isfahan’ Archie Shepp caresses the beautiful theme with all the gruff panache and sensitivity that the years have given him. When he is joined by Jason Moran the contrast is complete: the weary jazz veteran contrasted with the clarity of the young jazz artist.
My first sight of Archie Shepp was at a concert in London in 1967. Miles Davis and his great quintet opened the concert at JazzExpo at Hammersmith. They were followed by the Archie Shepp group who aggressively turned their instruments to the audience and played as if they wanted to vent all the black outrage being played out in the US. Jazz as projectile, so fierce and unrelenting that many in the audience simply got up and walked out. It felt like being at the premiere of ‘The Rite of Spring’
Archie Shepp is not now the innovator he once presented himself as. He has grown, turning into a guardian of the tradition rather than the disruptive revolutionary of 60 years ago.
In ‘Jitterbug Waltz’ by Fats Waller the notes cascade down from both the soprano and the piano. The wonderful theme unwinds. Shepp has forgotten about his avant-garde credentials; Moran is just intent on exploration. Another Waller piece ‘Ain’t Misbehavin’’ has a vocal from Shepp and reverential piano from Moran.
‘Wise One’ is from Coltrane’s album ‘Crescent’. and Shepp embellishes the melody with religious care and his own ideas while Moran plays retooled Tyner vamps. The playing hiere from both men is emotive and spellbinding.
Billy Strayhorn’s ‘Lush Life’ has a beautiful melody with faux sophisticated lyrics . Shepp feels his way through the complexities of the song and his reading is both idiosyncratic and moving. However, Shepp’s singing towards the end is not in the spirit of the piece.
Since the sixties Shepp has continued his political activism and his playing has deepened, become more aware, more expressive, excavating the roots, not seeking the spurious popularity.
There is a weariness about Shepp , not tiredness but heavy with experience. When he sings and he does occasionally on this album, his notes have the timbre of a veteran blues singer who is past caring how they sound to you.
Moran reveres the past in a way that does not disfigure his present. He can pay homage to the past as he did recently with his tributes to Mingus and Fats Waller. His Harlem Hellfighters remembers the soldiers who were led by Lieutenant James Reese Europe, soldiers who brought jazz to troops across the continent at the time of the first world war. Moran has also been praised for his multimedia art works.
The achievement of both men, at different stages in life is compressed into the album. What I will remember is the depth and rugged beauty of Shepp’s tenor sound and the way that Moran’s playing manages to unite the past with the present.
Reviewed by Jack Kenny
