NEW LP
New sealed copy. 2025 Verve Vault Series remastered reissue. Remastered by Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound. Pressed by Optimal Media in Germany.
Four for Trane is a 1965 studio album by Archie Shepp, released on Impulse! Records. It was Shepp’s first album for the label and was co produced by John Coltrane and Bob Thiele. The album centers on reinterpretations of four Coltrane compositions originally recorded for Giant Steps and Coltrane Plays the Blues, rearranged by Shepp and trombonist Roswell Rudd. The fifth track is an original Shepp composition.
The ensemble features Roswell Rudd on trombone, Alan Shorter on flugelhorn, John Tchicai on alto saxophone, Reggie Workman on bass, and Charles Moffett on drums. Rather than restating Coltrane’s material, the group reshapes it through a more openly expressive and avant garde approach that reflects the emerging New York free jazz scene of the mid nineteen sixties.
Four for Trane documents Coltrane’s direct support of Shepp at a formative stage in his career and stands as an early example of Impulse Records’ engagement with younger experimental voices. The album has since been widely cited as a significant jazz recording of the decade and an important recontextualization of Coltrane’s work.
TRACKLIST:
A1 Syeeda's Song Flute
A2 Mr. Syms
B1 Cousin Mary
B2 Naima
B3 Rufus (Swung, His Face At Last To The Wind, Then His Neck Snapped)
