Анди Шепард выпустил новый альбом Salt Catchers в память о Карле Блей

Andy Sheppard, like other artists who record frequently for ECM, has built a substantial oeuvre in the label’s mighty catalogue, and in the process has also built his own specific heritage, ethos and identity within it. Or, rather, in Sheppard’s case, it may arguably be more a case not of one, but of a range of different personae.  There have, on the one hand, been albums in the saxophonist’s own name, such as Movements in Colour (2009), his debut in his own name on the label, and then Surrounded by Sea (2015) and Romaria (2018), all with Norwegian guitarist Eivind Aarset – and also with drums, typically Sebastian Rochford. Those albums have an atmospheric, cinematic, particularly Nordic side to them. This new album, Salt Catchers is not from that lineage, but from a different one.  His other ECM patrimoine consists of the series of drumless albums which Sheppard made with Carla Bley and Steve Swallow, which are equally significant in his ECM footprint. This new recording was made in Lugano about a year and a half after Carla Bley’s death in October 2023, and much of album has the feel of an elegy about it, as if an affectionate memory of the great American pianist-composer is hanging in the air.  That is understandable, because the highs they reached together as a group were remarkable. Writing this review has been an invitation for me to re-visit those albums, and to take pleasure in doing so. One of my favourite needle-drops in this domain (or indeed anywhere) is Carla Bley’s composition “Utviklingssang”, the opening track from the album Trios (2013). There is a delicious irony in non-Scandinavians making something so good - while also faking it. Bley, originally from California has written a gem of Nordic hymn, and the lightness of spirit of Bristolian Sheppard makes it unforgettable, without a Scandinavian or a goat horn in sight.  Salt Catchers has specific homages to Bley which are mentioned in the album booklet: the tune “Lawns” is by the composer herself. There is also an epigraph hovering over the track listing, “when Carla met Irene she gave her flowers,” a reference to Sheppard’s mother, who is also the dedicatee of the tune “Irene”.  The opening of that tune is a rare moment of prominence for the bass. Whereas the trio Sheppard had with Bley had with Bley would involve the unique playing of Steve Swallow, for this trio, the bassist is Michel Benita, a frequent collaborator with Sheppard, whose playing is remarkable in its civilized understatement and restraint. He hardly steps to the fore at all, but the way he lays down slow time is like a masterclass every time.  For the full context, it is also necessary to peer beyond ECM and into Sheppard’s non-ECM universe. (Labels which are co-marketed under the Universal umbrella are becoming increasingly isolationist/supremacist, and this feels like a rebellious act but here goes….).  His duo album with Rita Marcotulli On the Edge of a Perfect Moment (Incipit Records 2005, later re-released by Le Chant du Monde in 2007) is a very important document, showing clearly how already, more than two decades ago Sheppard’s partnership with the Rome-born pianist has real affinity to it – they are of the same generation, born just two years apart, and their familiarity and ease of their collaboration was apparent then, whether producing limpid tunes or the bright energy of “Carnival and still is.  That memory – and recent reports of this trio being “tumultuous” and/or “exuberant” live – feels far removed from what we are offered here on this album. “Gorgeous”, on the other hand, is definitely on the menu: try the track “Encantos.”