Saxophonist and eighties musician Archie Shepp is rooted in the free jazz of the sixties. But even his early free jazz albums were permeated with spiritual blues, gospel and traditional jazz. African-American activism could also be heard in his poems and traditionals, sung or declaimed with a dark baritone. Forty-year-old Jason Moran exchanged hip-hop for jazz at a young age and developed into an
… adventurous and eclectic pianist. Shepp and Moran met for the first time in 2015 at a Belgian jazz festival and immediately had a click. Beautiful how they now play together on Let My People Go. Informally and like two old friends, they improvise on well-known gospel traditions and jazz standards, as if they were playing some late-night tunes for themselves in a half-empty jazz club. In slow and solemn arrangements they improvise around well-known melodies, until Shepp puts away his sax and starts singing darkly and plaintively. Informal as this get-together may seem, the versions by these two spirited musicians are spot on. (MR)more
