Four for Trane is one of the most significant debut statements in the history of avant-garde jazz. Released in 1964 on Impulse! Records, the album introduced Archie Shepp as a fully formed, uncompromising voice at the front edge of the 1960s jazz revolution, and it did so with John Coltrane himself as co-producer.
Recorded at Rudy Van Gelder's legendary Englewood Cliffs studio, the album presents five compositions, four by Coltrane, plus Shepp's own "Rufus,” performed by a fearless quintet: Shepp on tenor saxophone, Roswell Rudd on trombone, Alan Shorter on flugelhorn, Reggie Workman on bass, and Charles Moffett on drums. Arranger Roswell Rudd strips away deference and replaces it with invention: bold ensemble voicings, shifting time signatures, and free improvisation that honors Coltrane's compositions by refusing to simply replicate them.
Four for Trane doesn't sound like a tribute. It sounds like a conversation between equals, a young artist staking his claim at the precise moment a new jazz language was being written.
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Limited to 3 individually numbered copies.
