Results for "Andy Shepherd"

Andy Sheppard

Born: January 20, 1957

An ECM recording artist, bandleader and composer, Andy Sheppard is one of Europe’s leading saxophonists and one of a very few British musicians to have made a significant impact on the international jazz scene, playing and writing for settings from solo to big band and chamber orchestra. Sheppard has composed over 350 works that incorporate a strong and characteristic sense of lyricism alongside a very personal use of rhythms from Asia, Africa and South America.

Sheppard took up the saxophone at 19, highly motivated after encountering the music of John Coltrane, and three weeks after getting his first instrument was playing in public with the Bristol-based quartet Sphere. After a period in Paris where he worked with groups including performance art band Urban Sax, he returned to the UK in the mid-80’s recording the album “Andy Sheppard” for Antilles/Island, with Steve Swallow as producer, the beginning of a long musical association that continues to this day. Since then Sheppard has recorded for labels including Blue Note, Verve, Label Bleu and Provocateur.

Greg Cordez: Last Things Last

by Roger Farbey
January 26, 2018

"Chekov's Gun" opens this recording with a laid-back yet electrifying atmosphere hinting vaguely of a Soft Machine influence. “Cherry V Des Moines" has a rock-based feel but the overlaid horn ensemble sections imbue it with a jazz-inflected impetus as does Michael Blake's sinewy tenor solo. “Figlock" is dominated by Steve Cardenas's chiming electric guitar work and ...