Archie Shepp and Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen
Submitted by Jazz Note SDP
I have a fondness for Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen that goes back three decades. In my early years as a jazz fan I collected Oscar Peterson records. Peterson and Pedersen were inseparable for a while. I have a fondness for Archie Shepp that goes back, well, at least a couple of years.
Shepp has the status of a great innovator, and he deserves it. He also works the saxophone like a dowager, always finding God’s own water under any sandy surface. His New York Contemporary Five and Four For Trane recordings, in that order, are essential pieces in any collection. I haven’t followed Pedersen well enough to say anything useful about him. But he is clearly a master.
I recently acquired a duet album recorded by Shepp and Pedersen, Looking at Bird. Even with a piano, jazz duets tend to be a bit dry. They are works of love for lovers. With a horn and bass, the music approaches a dry martini joke. But this recording of Charlie Parker compositions is wonderful. You can’t do better if you want to taste the alchemy of a consummate jazz conversation. The two play as if they were doing a Vulcan mind meld sort of thing. And the texture of both instruments is recorded remarkably well. This is the true water. Here is a sample:
Archie Shepp & Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen/Billie’s Bounce/Looking at Bird
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