Music is a language, and it's like a dictionary that has a lot of words, but if you limited yourself to a couple of definitions you would be illiterate. If one limits oneself to a peculiar definition like 'new music,'… — Archie Shepp Copy Share Image
To some degree, yeah, because I have to play a certain number of originals that might be considered avant-garde material. I realize though, that only a few people in the audience actually know what that music is, or understand it. — Archie Shepp Copy Share Image
Rap actually took root in the Negro community, and then in the Hispanic community, long before it impacted on the larger American community as… — Archie Shepp Copy Share Image
And when I met Cecil Taylor it was a complete transformation of musical identities. All the tenets that I had grown up with were… — Archie Shepp Copy Share Image
It was a particularly interesting and exciting time, and the European political and artistic establishment was turned on by the Civil Rights Movement and… — Archie Shepp Copy Share Image
So, I was just a young guy, maybe with an idea, and Cecil Taylor, himself a rebel, would take a chance on a guy… — Archie Shepp Copy Share Image
Yes, the audience is so important to Negro music, especially the element of call and response. — Archie Shepp Copy Share Image
A whole generation of young whites have involved themselves with traditional Negro music. — Archie Shepp Copy Share Image
In America, for a brief time, people who followed John Coltrane were studied and considered important, but it didn't last long. The result is… — Archie Shepp Copy Share Image
You get a show where people are jumping up and dancing, but it's not a critical event in the sense of profound catharsis. Essentially… — Archie Shepp Copy Share Image
I can't see any separation between my music and my life. I play pretty much race music: its about what happened to my father,… — Archie Shepp Copy Share Image
Negro music and culture are intrinsically improvisational, existential. Nothing is sacred. After a decade, a musical idea, no matter how innovative, is threatened. — Archie Shepp Copy Share Image
I find that here in the States, audiences are generally less knowledgeable, from the cognitive point of view, though they are emotionally more receptive. — Archie Shepp Copy Share Image
