Archie Shepp, Jason Moran Announce ‘Let My People Go’ Album

News, First Listen, Archie Shepp, Jason Moran

By DownBeat I Dec. 10, 2020

Saxophonist Archie Shepp (left) and pianist Jason Moran recorded a series of duets in 2017 and 2018 that are being released as *Let My People Go*.
(Photo: Accra Shepp)

A pair of generation-defining performers announced their first collaborative album.

Saxophonist Archie Shepp and pianist Jason Moran, released a video for “Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child,” the first single from their upcoming Let My People Go recording. It’s a somber take of a somber tune, one supported by Moran’s bluesy gestures and Shepp’s emotive delivery on sax and vocals.

“Let My People Go offers ample evidence of Shepp and Moran’s consanguinity,” critic Ashley Kahn writes in the album’s liner notes. “Both were born in the [D]eep 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.”

On Let My People Go—which is due out Feb. 5 through the Archieball label—the duo also rework classics like “Isfahan,” “Lush Life” and “’Round Midnight.” DB