Jazz Articles about Andy Sheppard

About Andy Sheppard

Interview

Andy Sheppard: Tales From the Bristol Underground Jazz Revolution

by Ian Patterson
May 5, 2015

"Jazz has always been an underground thing. It doesn't have the power and might of opera, but it should," says Andy Sheppard, shortly after the UK premier of Surrounded by Sea (ECM, 2015) at the Bristol Jazz & Blues Festival. “Everyone in the music industry has a respect for jazz music, and they should, I think, realize the value of what's come out of this thing called jazz and the echoes that run through all other genres of music now." ...

Album Review

Andy Sheppard Quartet: Surrounded By Sea

Read "Surrounded By Sea" reviewed by Ian Patterson

by Ian Patterson
May 5, 2015

Saxophonist/composer Andy Sheppard has found a home in ECM. It's maybe not the perfect home for an artist as eclectic as Sheppard, for it's hard to see some of his other projects--notably the Scofield/Lovanoesque quartet Hotel Bristol--fitting in with the ECM aesthetic. Still, Sheppard's melodic improvisational approach and the airy lyricism on Movements in Color (ECM, 2009) and Trio Libero (ECM, 2012) fitted the ECM blueprint beautifully and rank among his most seductive recordings. With Surrounded by Sea Sheppard expands ...

Live Review

Andy Sheppard Quartet at Bristol Jazz & Blues Festival 2015

by Ian Patterson
March 15, 2015

Andy Sheppard Quartet Colston Hall Bristol Jazz & Blues Festival Bristol March 7, 2015 A “local hero" is how the emcee described saxophonist/composer Andy Sheppard. Bristol resident Sheppard is neither immortal nor a demi-God, but he is uber-talented and a warrior of sorts; a road warrior who has clocked up more miles than the Vikings ever did, purveying his music the length and breadth of the UK these past forty years. And the warm ...

Album Review

Ketil Bjørnstad: La Notte

by AAJ Italy Staff
July 9, 2013

Il progetto presentato al Festival di Molde 2010 dal pianista norvegese Ketil Bjørnstad, conosciuto all'epoca col nome “Antonioni Project," giunge finalmente alla pubblicazione su CD grazie alla ECM. L'evento live era stato accolto entusiasticamente da quanti avevano avuto la fortuna di assistervi: non capita spesso di vedre riuniti sullo stesso palco simili nomi, anche se con i musicisti del giro ECM la cosa è meno infrequente di quanto possa sembrare. Il supergruppo riunito dal pianista include musicisti che hanno già ...

Scumbles

Andy Sheppard: Thoughts and Trio Libero

by Sammy Stein
September 1, 2012

Andy Sheppard is pleased to be back; not back, as in making a return to music--he has never left--but back in Suffolk and, more particularly, back in Snape. Snape was where Trio Libero--consisting of French double bassist Michel Benita, drummer Sebastian Rochford and saxophonist Sheppard--was born. The trio released its self-titled debut earlier in 2012 on the German ECM label.Four days as resident artist a few years back led to lots of time spent in a recording studio ...

Scumbles

Sax Massive

by Sammy Stein
July 11, 2012

Saxophonist and composer Andy Sheppard was asked, a couple of years ago, to come up with an idea for the 200th anniversary of Isambard Kingdom Brunel. In particular, Bristol City Council wanted an event to start fundraising for lights for the Clifton Suspension Bridge.Being a saxophonist, Sheppard suggested 200 saxophones somehow get together in one place and perform. He said it as a joke at first and initially, members of the council grinned and then laughed--as did Andy--but ...

Album Review

Andy Sheppard / Michel Benita / Sebastian Rochford: Trio Libero

Read "Trio Libero" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
March 12, 2012

Sometimes unexpected connections yield the most wonderful results. Saxophonist Andy Sheppard, bassist Michel Benita and drummer Sebastian Rochford all have more than enough cred to suggest capability in any context, but none of their individual pursuits could presage a collaboration like Trio Libero, quite possibly the finest saxophone trio recordings of the new millennium, and one to rival previous ECM successes like bassist Dave Holland's Triplicate (1988) or saxophonist Jan Garbarek's Triptykon (1973). Trio Libero doesn't swing like Triplicate, nor ...