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Heading over to Rome this weekend for a set by The Andy Sheppard Trio – recorded live at Casa del Jazz on October 29th of last year.
Andy Sheppard’s first leader date for ECM was the 2008 recording Movements In Colour (where Eivind Aarset was one of the featured guitarists). Andy Sheppard can also be heard with Carla Bley and Steve Swallow on Trios (ECM 2287, recorded 2012), and on ten of Carla Bley’s albums on the ECM distributed WATT label, beginning with Fleur Carnivore in 1988. Sheppard has previously recorded as a leader for Island/Antilles, Blue Note, Verve, Label Bleu and Provocateur, written music for ensembles of every size including his Saxophone Massive project with up to 200 players, and been featured as soloist with great jazz composers and arrangers including George Russell and Gil Evans.
The Andy Sheppard Trio is a project led by the saxophonist and composer who has established himself as one of the leading figures in contemporary jazz in Europe, with pianist Rita Marcotulli and Carlos Bica on double bass. The music for this trio was written during early 2021, a period that allowed Sheppard to devote his time almost exclusively to compositional work.
Andy Sheppard is not only renowned for his compelling voice on the saxophone but also for the mastery he shows in his choice of musical partners, and this trio is no exception. For this project Sheppard invited Carlos Bica, whose unique approach to his instrument and unforgettable lyrical tone on the double bass have earned him a reputation as Portugal’s most influential jazz musician, while acclaimed pianist Rita Marcotulli has long been internationally renowned as an icon of Italian jazz. Andy Sheppard Trio marks an unprecedented meeting of three highly individual musicians, all of whom have played an important role in shaping what we now call the European jazz sound.
In this new trio, Sheppard has the opportunity to take a fresh and lively approach to his writing, honoring jazz in its tradition, based on his free-flowing melodic compositions, inviting each member to venture into endless improvisational possibilities, while maintaining an open aesthetic,at its core. Collectively exploring, a music anchored in structure but open to lyricism, free to choose new paths and take different directions in becoming.
Press play and sit back – Sunday – Memorial Day – take time off.
