Archie Shepp

The Tradition

Avant-garde giant Archie Shepp made an indelible contribution to experimental jazz. Double-LP The Tradition was recorded in Rome in 1977 for Horo Records with drummer Clifford Jarvis and bassist Cameron Brown; the raucous “Hooray For Mal” has shades of be-bop, while Duke Ellington’s “Sophisticated Lady” is largely tackled by Shepp on upright piano (with gorgeous soloing by Brown); “Things Have Got To Change” hearkens to Shepp’s experience of the Pan-African Cultural Festival of Algiers of 1969 and Ellington’s “I Didn’t Know About You” is relayed as a soft tenor ballad with rough edges.