Live at the Donaueschingen Music Festival

This is an exciting album. The important tenor Archie Shepp and his 1967 group — with both Roswell Rudd and Grachan Moncur on trombones, bassist Jimmy Garrison, and drummer Beaver Harris — romp through the continuous 43-and-a-half-minute "One for the Trane" before an enthusiastic audience at a German music festival. Although he improvises very freely and with great intensity, Shepp surprised the crowd by suddenly bursting into a spaced-out version of "The Shadow of Your Smile" near the end of this memorable performance. On the whole, this very spirited set represents avant-garde jazz at its peak and Archie Shepp at his finest.