Four Voices in a Stockholm Room
Shepp and Gullin trade tenor and baritone over a rhythm section that locks in without hesitation, each man listening.
This live session happened in Stockholm in 1993, Archie Shepp and Lars Gullin sharing front-line duties with Tete Montoliu on piano, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen on bass, and Alex Riel on drums. The pairing of Shepp's tenor with Gullin's baritone gives the date its particular character — two heavyweight voices that don't compete so much as converse, each one secure enough to listen. Shepp brings his full-bodied sound and harmonic reach; Gullin, a Swedish master who had been working steadily for decades, knows when to push and when to lay back.
Montoliu comps with precision, never overcrowding, while Pedersen and Riel form a rhythm section that moves with genuine empathy. There's no sense of musicians proving anything. The energy feels lived-in, collaborative. Standards anchor most of the session, and that choice matters — these are tunes everyone knows, which means the focus stays on voice and interaction rather than complexity.
This is not a peak Shepp or a rediscovery of Gullin. It's a working date by serious players who showed up and did the job well. If you want to hear what Shepp sounds like in direct conversation with another horn player, or if you're curious about Gullin's sound late in his career, this delivers that. For casual listeners, start elsewhere with either artist. For anyone already familiar with both, this stands as a solid record of what happened that night.
Who's playing
Niels‐Henning Ørsted Pedersendouble bass
Tete Montoliupiano
Lars Gullinbaritone saxophone
Archie Shepptenor saxophone
Alex Rieldrums
