Espen Eriksen Trio with Andy Sheppard

Andy Sheppard’s warm tenor playing fits so well with Espen Eriksen’s part minimalistic, part melodic compositions that it sounds as if they have been playing together for decades. Still, it was only two years ago when the Eriksen’s Norwegian piano trio played its first concert with the British master saxophonist, in London. Critics agree that their first collaborative album Perfectly Unhappy (Rune Grammofon) is absolutely moreish.

With a career spanning over four decades, working together with the likes of George Russell, Gil Evans and Carla Bley, Andy Sheppard is truly one of Europe’s leading saxophonists. He’s also one of the few players in the world that can juggle lyrical sensibility with hardcore American post‐bop jazz chops. Lately, his main focus has been with his own band Andy Sheppard Quartet and the trio with Carla Bley and Steve Swallow. Both acts are recording for ECM.

‘A wonderfully plaintive jazz record, abandoned to the lost art of melodic minimalism, stripped back and beautifully near bare. No smoke and mirrors, just the graceful chemistry of superb musicians at the top of their game’ (BBC over Perfectly Unhappy).