Archie Shepp lives up to his reputation, not so much as radical, more about doing his own thing as he glibly walks on stage curtailing the show announcement. Eager to get on with the task and flanked by long time collaborator, pianist Joachim Kühn, they get stuck into ‘Transmitting’ from the latest album Wo!Man–celebrating womanhood.

A saxophonist with possibly the worst embouchure, Shepp smothers the mouthpiece as if to fully embrace the instrument producing ecstatic shrieks and gargoyle grimaces. He plummets to rich sonorous phrases engulfing the auditorium. Though recognisably avant-garde you always hear the melody as Kühn’s complementary layers stirs like a cauldron both converging to a temperate beauty.

The 80-minute set left a large coterie of diehards as these occasions are rare borne out by the tumultuous applause that elicited a stupendous encore with more mastery as Shepp switches to soprano to portray a sublime vision of ‘Harlem Nocturne’.

– Roger Thomas