On the occasion of the Jazz à La Villette Festival, the British collective The Heliocentrics bring together two great artists and major players of African-American culture: Archie Shepp and Melvin Van Peebles. The former is a saxophonist and one of the key figures of the Great Black Music, the latter is a renowned filmmaker and a pioneer of the Blaxploitation, an American film genre featuring, in the leading roles, African American actors.
Guided by the spiritual power of the charismatic Sun Ra, the Heliocentrics keep playing their part as a link between genres and generations. After performing for years with the Ethio-jazz icon Mulatu Astatke, they embarked on a new adventure alongside Mevin Van Peebles in 2014, with the album The Last Broadcast, a nebulous opus composed of 12 hypnotic music tracks.