January 15, 2021 For Immediate Release

Archie Shepp & Jason Moran Present New Single, “Isfahan” ​

New Album, Let My People Go, Out February 5th on Archieball ​ ​

Next month on February 5th, saxophonist Archie Shepp and pianist Jason Moran will ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ release their new collaborative duo album, Let My People Go, via Archieball. Today, they ​ ​ ​ ​ present the album’s next single, “Isfahan,” which follows lead single “Sometimes I Feel Like ​ ​ ​ A Motherless Child.” “Isfahan,” a Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington piece originally ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ released on Ellington’s 1967 album, The Far East Suite, opens with Shepp’s tenor saxophone, ​ ​ and peels of Moran’s dreamy piano.

Hear Archie Shepp & Jason Moran’s Performance of “Isfahan”

A gathering of duet performances from 2017 and 2018 and their first recording together, Let ​ My People Go chronicles a relationship that can sound like the intimate huddling of two old ​ friends: whispered asides, excited exclamations, utterances coinciding with practiced harmony, followed by bursts of laughter.

Shepp and Moran first met backstage at Belgium’s annual JazzMiddelheim Festival in 2015. The Kennedy Center’s Artistic Director for Jazz since 2014 and an educator at the New ​ ​ ​ England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Moran has worked with artists such as ​ Cassandra Wilson, Wayne Shorter, Charles Lloyd, Dave Holland, and many others, in ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ addition to his own solo work. In five quick years, Shepp and Moran’s friendship has grown, and they have cultivated the chances to perform together: co-headlining or as guests on each other’s gigs, in Europe and the U.S., sometimes with a rhythm section and singers, and as often, just the two of them.

Noted historian and author Ashley Kahn, writes: ​ ​

Let My People Go offers ample evidence of Shepp and Moran’s consanguinity. Both were born in the deep South, raised up in the sound of the blues and black gospel: Shepp in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Moran in Houston, Texas. Both fell in love with jazz and other forms of cultural expression, and followed their muses north. Shepp pursued a degree in drama at Goddard College in Vermont, while playing saxophone and writing poetry; Moran, years later, focused on classical and jazz piano at Manhattan School of Music. Even as they maintain their own individual approaches, their mutual ardor for the African American cultural tradition embraces all leaves, branches, and—especially—its roots.

Love and pride and an abiding sense of message-giving that defies years and categories. That’s the essence of these performances. There’s an old African-American proverb that says, “The spirit will not descend without a song.” Let My People Go is a supreme example of this idea. In this music, one can hear how, when two deeply connected souls meet, the message in the music is clarified and amplified, how its power is increased exponentially. Listen to what they say to each other, and what their music has to say to us.

Listen to “Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child”

Pre-order Let My People Go ​

Download cover art and hi-res images of Archie Shepp & Jason Moran

(Let My People Go Cover Artwork by Wozniak & Adelina) ​ ​

Archie Shepp online: archieshepp.org instagram.com/archie_shepp facebook.com/ArchieShepp.official

Jason Moran online: jasonmoran.com/ twitter.com/morethan88 jasonmoran.bandcamp.com/ instagram.com/thejasonmoran/

For more information, contact: Sam McAllister | Pitch Perfect PR - [email protected], 651-528-3577 ​ ​

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