Archie Shepp...
(Archie Shepp: Je suis Jazz...c'est ma vie)
“Nothing if not eclectic, multi-instrumentalist, composer, poet, playwright and educator Archie Shepp has consistently remained one of the most controversial figures on the jazz scene since his first recordings back in 1960. As Frank Cassenti's intelligent film portrait so admirably reveals, he still pontificates endlessly on his favorite subjects--the African origins and revolutionary purpose of jazz; the social invisibility and isolation of blacks--but in the film's club sequences Shepp, whether on tenor or soprano sax or shouting his poems of protest, generates enormous emotion, swings like mad (when he wants to) and expertly builds his solos to an exciting climax while all the time acknowledging en route the debt he owes to Parker and Coltrane.” David Meeker, London Film Festival