At various times in his long career, saxophonist, composer, playwright, and educator Archie Shepp has been regarded as a musical firebrand, cultural radical, soulful throwback to the jazz tradition, contemplative veteran explorer, and global jazz statesman. During the '60s, he was viewed as possibly the most articulate and intense member of the free jazz generation, using records such as Fire Music to speak hard truths about social injustice and the anger he felt. During the mid-'70s, his work employed a fatback/swing-based R&B approach, while in the '80s and '90s he mixed straight bop, ballads, and blues. His latter-day highlights include 2004's Blue Ballads, 2011's Wo! Man with Joachim Kuhn, and 2013's I Hear the Sound with his Attica Blues Orchestra.