Archie Shepp

“I can't see any separation between my music and my life. I play my life.”

“Jazz is a music of the present, and the past.”

“If you're a Black man, you have to be a political figure.”

“My music is about my life, and my life is about my people.”

“I try to create a music which is a reflection of the times in which we live.”

“To me, John Coltrane was a saint. He was a man who was after a certain kind of truth.”

“I'm a jazz musician, I'm an artist, but I'm an African-American artist.”

“The Negro Revolt is more than a drive for civil rights. It is a rebellion against the stifling paternalism of the 'white liberal.'”

“The whole thing about the blues is that it's a very personal music.”

“The avant-garde has to be political, because it's the one place where you can be completely yourself.”

“Let my people hear.”