Archie Shepp
Paris, 1954. The story of the meeting, known thanks to the fortuitous discovery of a forgotten notebook, full of notes and photographs, between a white British aristocrat, Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter, writer and jazz patron, and a talented black pianist, Thelonious Monk, one of the best bebop jazz musicians of all time; a prodigious union of wills that overcame the most extreme prejudices of the very conservative US society.
Following the uprising of inmates in the high security prison of Attica, in the state of New York, Archie Shepp launches, with a group of musicians gathered especially for the occasion, an album that will be recorded in the history of music: Attica Blues. After 40 years, the saxophonist decided to play this album again live with a big band, made up of young musicians and musicians his age.
At first glance, the pairing of veteran American saxophonist Archie Shepp and German pianist Joachim Kuhn seems an unlikely one. Performance at the Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain - May 2011.
It is Christmas Eve. Separated from her young son, Helly struggles for money. A solitary man, Didier pays her to play his fiancée for the night. But the act comes to a tragic end. Left stunned, Helly meets Marie, who takes her in, on her way to the coast. There they encounter Chris. All three will end the night together. It’s their last move in joy and perdition.
Some teenagers sign up for the contest: "Describe your neighborhood", whose first prize is a trip to Milan. As the youngsters are football fans and fans of Milan AC, they decide to describe the neighbourhood with a rap song, and record a video. Archie Shepp, who also lives in the neighbourhood, watches them and decides to give them a hand.
Charlie Banks is a black, unemployed Watts resident. At home most of the day, Banks gets on the nerves of his wife and three children. One evening, while getting some fresh air, Hardman makes the acquaintance of a welfare mother. After this, he's not underfoot at home anymore; he's found another bed to occupy.
Jazz legend Archie Shepp toplines this unique and informative documentary. It intercuts performance footage of Shepp with interviews where he speaks candidly about such topics as Jazz's African origins, the genre's "revolutionary" purpose, and the social isolation of African Americans today.
Sun Ra, Archie Shepp and company in concert in Paris, 1984. Documents performances and rehearsals in Paris, France, 1984. It includes the compositions "Love in Outer Space," "Nuclear War," and "1984" by Sun Ra and the standards "Tea for Two" and "Blue Lou," as well as interviews with Sun Ra and Archie Shepp.
An examination, shown through both interviews and performances, of the avant-garde free jazz movement which reigned during the 1960s.
Festival panafricain d'Alger is a documentary by William Klein of the music and dance festival held 40 years ago in the streets and in venues all across Algiers. Klein follows the preparations, the rehearsals, the concerts… He blends images of interviews made to writers and advocates of the freedom movements with stock images, thus allowing him to touch on such matters as colonialism, neocolonialism, colonial exploitation, the struggles and battles of the revolutionary movements for Independence.
