December 10, 2020 For Immediate Release

Archie Shepp & Jason Moran Announce New Album, Let My People Go, ​ ​ Out February 5th, 2021 on Archieball

Listen to “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child”

“Words, sounds, speech, men, memory, thoughts, fears and emotions—time—all related…all ​ made from one…all made in one.” —John Coltrane, 1964 ​

Archie Shepp and Jason Moran announce their new collaborative duo album, Let My People ​ ​ ​ ​ Go, out February 5th on Archieball, and today release its lead single, “Sometimes I Feel ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Like A Motherless Child.” 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.

As noted historian and author, Ashley Kahn, writes: ​ ​

There comes a time when musical expression flows directly from the soul—unimpeded, unfiltered. A point when the modes of expression—the way a person plays and sings, the way he walks and talks and even wears his hat—are all on the same wavelength, all drawing from the same inner spirit. Their music reveals not just who the individual musician might be, but reflects who we all are. Message, music, and identity weave together into one.

Archie Shepp, more than sixty years into a career of supreme dedication, has devoted a lifetime to this idea of spiritual singularity. His vast discography is peppered with moments of deep connection: significant studio projects and equally historic live performances, as sideman, leader, and very often, collaborator. Shepp has found a way to consistently excel in these spaces, as a speaker and as a listener. Shepp, in all these instances, develops these conversations with just the right amount of form and freedom.

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.

Kahn continues:

‘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” by Archie Shepp & Jason Moran

Pre-order Let My People Go ​

Let My People Go Tracklist: ​ 01.Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child 02. Isfahan 03. He Cares 04. Go Down Moses 05. Wise One 06. Lush Life 07. Round Midnight

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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