CD ECM Records Andy Sheppard, Michel Benita, Sebastian Rochford: Trio Libero

2012

Andy Sheppard - saxofon tenor si sopran
Michel Benita - contrabas
Sebastian Rochford - tobe

UK saxophonist Andy Sheppard’s second ECM album introduces his freely lyrical new trio with Michel Benita and Sebastian Rochford. All three players share a sense of stylistic open-mindedness. Drummer Rochford is one of the young players changing perceptions of British jazz with bands Polar Bear and Acoustic Ladyland. Algiers-born French bassist Benita, who cites Charlie Haden and Scott LaFaro as influences, has played with Archie Shepp, Dewey Redman, Lee Konitz and in the ELB trio with Nguyên Lê and Peter Erskine. Repertoire here includes originals by Sheppard, Benita and Rochford, plus group improvisations and the standard “I’m Always Chasing Rainbows.” In all contexts, interaction is highly creative, as Benita and Rochford respond perceptively to Sheppard’s melodically and rhythmically inventive lines. Recorded July 2011 at Auditorio Radiotelevisione svizzera, Lugano.

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The opening Libertino, a typically light-stepping Sheppard melody, somehow manages to create the idea of a witty lament. Wispy tenor-sax fragments turn into quiet snare-drum tattoos peppered with sonorous tom-tom accents. A single standard (I'm Always Chasing Rainbows) is a Jan Garbarek-like soprano sax drifter quietly prodded and pulled by Benita's bass. The long-note and bowed-bass Spacewalk Parts 1 and 2 have a pristine, shivery beauty, and the closing When We Live on the Stars has a slow and sonorous pop song quality. It's low-key, but glowing with life.
John Fordham, The Guardian

Saxophonist Sheppard´s chirpy tone and improvisatory alertness have made him a master of his trade for years but this co-op trio with bassist Benita and drummer Rochford - who strokes skins in the intensely musical manner of Paul Motian - puts him on a whole new level. All contribute material, and there´s a lovely, oblique version of 'I´m always Chasing Rainbows', but the entire album is suffused with a spacious, questing feel that begs for further development in live performance.
Phil Johnson, The Independent

This is an album of stately elegance and beauty. Featuring 13 tunes over its 51-minute length, it flows gracefully from one track to the next. Balance and poise in this context are everything for this is music that unfolds before you rather than grabs at your attention. [...] It's the subtlety of the interplay and sense of freedom that this record exudes that makes it so special. It's rich in colours of autumn and winter, at times austere but never gloomy, while on occasions the warmth of spring hints at renewal. A truly gorgeous piece of music-making.
Duncan Heining, Jazzwise

Pensive saxophone, ruminative bass and occasional cymbal splashes combine to conjure the gentle ripples of a pleasant backwater on a summer’s day. Andy Sheppard delivers stately themes with a breathy tone, bassist Michel Benita adds counterpoints and drones and Seb Rochford decorates each line with well-timed brushstrokes and exquisite control. Each track is a delight of swaying tempos, unresolved tensions and subtle textures […].
Mike Hobart, Financial Times

This mix of spontaneity and familiarity infuses everything the trio play with improvisational tension, each player clearly having a firm grasp on the outline of each pieace, but able to plot his own highly distinctive and original path within it. The resultant music incorporates not only Sheppard´s great strengths - a sure ear for an affecting melody, a sculptural approach to his saxophones´ sound, an ability to move seamlessly between freedom and structure - but also Benita´s extraordinary versatility and Rochford´s uncanny ability to choose precisely the right cymbal/skin stroke to push the music along and subtly embellish the band sound. The overall effect will perhaps remind many ECM aficionados of Paul Motian´s various albums for the label, but Trio Liebero´s strength comes from the grace and elegance with which three utterly distincitve talents have been able to gel to form a unit that consistently lives up to its name.
Chris Parker, London Jazz