Four for Trane

Archie Shepp's first major outing was recorded in August 1964 about a year before John Coltrane gathered some of these same players (Shepp and alto saxophonist John Tchicai) in the studio for the recording of Ascension, which would launch the final phase of his career, represented excellently on the two-CD Major Works collection. Shepp's recording was a reverential interpretation of four Coltrane compositions with one Shepp original. While it is a marvelous and insightful slice of jazz in 1964, it coheres and provides very rewarding listening now more than three decades later. Indeed its balance of "out" and "in" playing should provide a model for the new traditionalists in jazz. The arrangements for horns cast the Coltrane compositions in a new light (Roswell Rudd is a delight here on trombone). These are rich compositions played by players respectful of tradition and unafraid of creativity. --Michael Monhart