Archie Shepp - Darker Than Blue
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Archie Shepp, a pivotal figure from the 1960s avant garde, perennially associated with what once was called the “New Thing”, has just produced one of the most tender and haunting albums of the year in duo with German pianist Joachim Kühn.
A tribute to women who have inspired him over the years, the album is a potent reminder of the poetic side of Shepp, a million miles away from the angry young man he was once known as. Kevin Le Gendre recalls Shepp’s career and talks to the saxophonist.
Being on the road is sometimes akin to being on the rack. The travelling can be physically demanding, the homesickness disorientating and the impact on one’s personal life unforgiving. The road, for a hard gigging player, can be both a stream of adventure and a whirlpool of adversity.
Musicians who are no longer in the first flush of youth can be particularly sensitive to the rigours of a lifestyle that involves playing late into the night and rising early in the morning to get their hustle on for a plane, train or automobile. Speaking on the phone from the Paris home that he shares with Monette Berthommier, his partner and co-director of his record label Archieball, Archie Shepp knows these travails well. Perhaps there is a weariness in his voice because of the dizzying fatigue occasioned by a long journey across the Atlantic from Hadley, Massachusetts. Perhaps there is an exhaustion with the jazz life.
This is an extract from Jazzwise Issue #153 – to read the full article click here to subscribe and receive a FREE CD...