“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”. What more can I add. Could a bit for sure but it still will match that opinion perfectly.
The aptly named “Perfectly Unhappy” features eight new songs by the pianist, all written with this collaboration in mind. These are enchanting and lyrical tunes, often melancholic and uplifting at the same time and will surely speak to followers of both the trio and Sheppard and attract many new ones. 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 is currently an ECM recording artist with his own quartet.
Eriksen’s background is ranking from jazz to pop music and the church organ,while Jenset lived and worked as a musician in Copenhagen for seven years before relocating to Norway. Andres Bye is one of Norway’s most requested drummers in jazz and pop and has played with Bugge Wasseltoft, John Scofield, Joshua Redman, Dhafer Yousef, Nils Pettr Molvear and many others.
2018 Rune Grammofon (RCD2199 ) : Espen Eriksen Trio with Andy Sheppard: “Perfectly Unhappy”
Available- (CD/LP)
Line-up
Andy Sheppard – tenor Saxophone
Espen Eriksen – piano
Lars Tormot Jenset – double bass
Andreas Bye – drums
Tracks
- Above The Horizon
- 1974
- Perfectly Unhappy
- Indian Summer
- Suburban Folk Song
- Naked Trees
- Revisited
- Home
Released 04.05.18