Archie Shepp

Archie Shepp

Archie Shepp is an American jazz saxophonist, poet and playwright from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, born in 1937 and raised in Philadelphia. He studies piano, clarinet and alto saxophone before concentrating on tenor saxophone, while also playing soprano saxophone at times. His work is closely associated with outspoken political themes and with music shaped by Afrocentric ideas, particularly in the late 1960s, when he focuses on the injustices faced by people of African descent.

Career and collaborations

Shepp is known for his work with the New York Contemporary Five, which he forms with Don Cherry, and for collaborations with figures from the so-called New Thing movement, including Cecil Taylor and John Coltrane. He also works with Roswell Rudd and Bobby Hutcherson, and plays with other radical musicians such as Frank Zappa. His wider performing history includes membership of the Archie Shepp–Bill Dixon Quartet, Archie Shepp Quartet, Archie Shepp Quintet and Archie Shepp Septet, as well as the Cecil Taylor Quartet, Cecil Taylor Unit, The Don Cherry Quintet, The Gil Evans Orchestra, The Jazz Composer’s Orchestra and the Takashi Mizuhashi Quartet.

Recordings and labels

Shepp records albums such as Poem For Malcolm and Live in Antibes, and is associated with labels including Impulse!, Verve and Dawn of Freedom. His catalogue spans jazz, avant-garde jazz, free jazz, jazz-funk, post-bop and soul jazz.

Other work

He teaches African American Studies at SUNY Buffalo and music at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He also provides the musical score for the film Gotta Dance and appears on the 1984 Wilebski's Blues Saloon Festival DVD.