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Goin' Home (Archie Shepp and Horace Parlan album)

Goin' Home
Goin' Home (album) coverart.jpg
Studio album by Archie Shepp and Horace Parlan
Released 1977
Recorded April 25, 1977
Studio Sweet Silence Studios in Copenhagen
Genre Jazz, gospel
Length 43:24
Label SteepleChase
Producer Nils Winther
Archie Shepp chronology
The Rising Sun Collection
(1977)
Goin' Home
(1977)
Ballads for Trane
(1977)
Horace Parlan chronology
Frank-ly Speaking
(1977)
Goin' Home
(1977)
Hi-Fly
(1978)

Goin' Home is a studio album by American saxophonist Archie Shepp and pianist Horace Parlan. After their respective work in the avant-garde jazz movement of the 1960s, Shepp and Parlan both faced career challenges as the jazz scene diverged stylistically. They left the United States for Europe during the 1970s and met each other in Denmark before recording the album on April 25, 1977, at Sweet Silence Studio in Copenhagen.

A jazz and gospel album, Goin' Home features Shepp and Parlan's interpretations of African-American folk melodies and spirituals. Its title is an allusion to Shepp's return to his African cultural roots. Shepp had never recorded spirituals before and was overcome with emotion during the album's recording because of the historical and cultural context of the songs.

Although it surprised jazz listeners upon its release in 1977, Goin' Home was praised by music critics for its reverent tone and stylistic deviation from Shepp's previous free jazz works. Shepp and Parlan were artistically satisfied with the album and subsequently recorded another album together, Trouble in Mind, in 1980. Goin' Home was reissued on CD by SteepleChase Records on May 3, 1994.

After surging to the forefront of the avant-garde jazz movement during the 1960s, both Archie Shepp and Horace Parlan faced career challenges during the 1970s after their style lost popularity in the jazz scene, which had split between artists who played either a tamer or a more experimental sound. Like Parlan, Shepp became a more mainstream performer, mostly playing hard bop, although he occasionally return to his free jazz sound. To support himself financially, he spent most of his time playing in Europe. In 1972, Parlan also left the United States and eventually made his residence in Denmark, where Shepp had signed to SteepleChase Records.


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