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Joachim Kuhn, the great German jazz pianist, has played piano with Ornette Coleman – now he partners another saxophone legend of the 1960s American new wave in this warmly lyrical and distinctive duet with Archie Shepp. Shepp's signature is a robust yet hollow-toned and slippery sound that joins the sumptuousness of early jazz saxists to the multiphonic abrasiveness of John Coltrane and Albert Ayler. The contrast between Shepp's lurching outbursts and brusque tenderness, and Kuhn's fleet and beautifully weighted streams of consciousness is very effective – and from two such legendary firebrands, it's a movingly melodious exercise. Kuhn's ruggedly tolling folk-theme Transmitting is a highlight; Shepp's free-ballad Nina curls and smokes; the jaunty Drivin' Miss Daisy joins squawky tenor to long-lined blues piano improv; Ornette Coleman's Lonely Woman is echoingly desolate; and Sophisticated Lady releases the notes of the famous melody as if they are shy about emerging from the shadows. – The Guardian