Andy Sheppard - Movements in Colour [CD]

Although Andy Sheppard has featured on a dozen albums with Carla Bley for WATT, this is his first album for ECM proper. The British saxophonist heads an extraordinarily gifted international quintet in a set of self-penned pieces, all buoyant and strongly melodic. <p>The music also bears other Sheppard famed characteristics - inventive use of texture and an unerring sense of rhythm which sets the pace for world jazz at its unclassifiable best. Sheppard's elegant saxophone and the strongly-contrasting guitars of John Parricelli and Eivind Aarset are lifted up by the rhythmic drive of Arild Andersen's muscular bass and the crisp, dynamic tabla of Kuljit Bhamra, a regular collaborator with Sheppard and a key figure in the Asian pop and bhangra movements. Movements in Colour was recorded in February 2008 at Studios La Buissonne in the south of France.</p> <p>Established for over 25 years as a successful composer and performer, Andy Sheppard is one of the 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. He's 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. Recent years have also seen a growing fascination with new music technologies. He has been described as a serial collaborator, playing, recording and developing new music with artists such as Brazilian percussionist Nana Vasconcelos, Indian violinist L Shankar, contemporary classical composer/performers John Harle and Joanna MacGregor, late singer songwriter John Martyn and a myriad of leading jazz figures - including the rare hat-trick of three of the seminal composers in contemporary jazz - Carla Bley, George Russell and the late Gil Evans.</p> <p>Personnel: Andy Sheppard (soprano and tenor saxophones), John Parricelli (acoustic and electric guitars), Eivind Aarset (guitar, electronics), Arild Andersen (double-bass, electronics), Kuljit Bhamra (tabla, percussion)</p>