I never wrote about jazz music before, but one saxophone player I heard recently is special in many ways. Archie Shepp who is also piano player and singer had developed a creative style acclaimed by all jazz specialists for many reasons some of which, are perhaps different from mine.
The way I came to that musician and composer might be surprising.
Indeed, I heard that name for the first time after reading a novel from French writer Benoit Duteurtre, titled To Both of Us Paris (A nous deux Paris) which portrays the life of a young student coming from Normandie to the French capital dreaming of artistic life, but soon disillusioned when facing reality. Anyway, the writer quotes a number of bands and artists of 80’s area in jazz or rock music, some of wich I know. That was not the case for Archie Shepp, so I googled his name and made researches on youtube. The first thing that drawn my attention was the collaboration of Archie with Frank Zappa, who is well-known for his experimental works using satyr and contrasts. Hence, I listened to the first album of Shepp available on the net, and it was Attica Blues. Indeed, it is an unusual way of playing and singing jazz, sometimes with Archie Shepp’s voice, sometimes with different female singers. Nevertheless, I decided a second time to hear some of Shepp’s music and I was very impressed by 2 songs taken from an album released in 1995, untitled Blue Ballades.
The two songs are Cry me a river and More then you know. Both have an instrumental part where music shifts from an atmosphere to another, in a smooth way. Afterwards the saxophone seems to talk, breathless, in a vain effort to resurrect a past moment. Theses feelings are also expressed by the piano, then came the voice of Archie Shepp. A strong voice that breaks like a monster falling to the ground, reminding me a bit of Captain Beefheart vocalizes, though Shepp can move from a tone to another, from low to high notes, making the voice frail in a tenuous moment, like suspended in the air, as if past and present have no meaning at all, when these notions are swept away by breathtaking piano playing.
It goes without saying that the bluesy aspect of Archie Shepp’s voice imparts to his compositions an undeniable nostalgic spirit.
I hope these impressions will incite some people to discover Archie Shepp (especially these two songs), unless they already know him.
Lyes ferhani