In saxophonist Archie Shepp's lengthy and illustrious career, he has had a string of esteemed piano partners: Horace Parlan, Joachim Kuhn, Siegfried Kessler and Mal Waldron. Each duo has set a high artistic bar, but the latest incumbent, Jason Moran, is more than able to pass muster, as well he might given his own extensive experience of working with horn players as gifted as Charles Lloyd, Sam Rivers and Greg Osby. Above all this new work is a significant encounter across generations as 83-year-old Shepp and 45-year-old Moran have had different life experiences and career paths.

Yet they negotiate the repertoire of standards, originals and spirituals with a composure and sense of measure that reflects maturity and an emotional engagement with the material that precludes push-button showboating. Physically diminished in recent years, Shepp is playing with a touch less vigour than in times passed, but he is nonetheless able to cover a wide sensory range, from embers of pathos to a crackle of defiance on ‘Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child', an anthem for troubled times past and present on which the saxophonist also sings with the redemptive power of a man who has seen the darkness of a long night as well as the light of a new day. This is an engrossing encounter of two bold personalities who understand the power of the blues as a place for story and a space for meaningful soul-searching in sound.