Andy Sheppard (Sax) - Movements In Colour [CD]

After featuring on a dozen albums with Carla Bley for WATT/ECM, Colours in Motion is Andy Sheppard's first album for ECM proper. The British saxophonist heads a specially assembled international quintet in a programme of buoyant and strongly melodic self-penned pieces. Sheppard's elegant saxophone and the strongly contrasting guitars of John Paricelli and Eivind Aarset are lifted up by the rhythmic drive of Arild Andersen's muscular bass and the crisp, dynamic tabla playing of Kuljit Bhamra. Tabla master Kuljit Bhamra makes his ECM debut here. He is credited as one of the instigators of the Bhangra dance music scene, and has scored music for several films including Bend It Like Beckham. All of Sheppard's other cohorts are well-known to ECM fans - Arild Andersen of course has been recording with ECM for 40 years. Sheppard's longstanding affection for Indian, African and Latin grooves is evident in compositions that give the leader and his exceptional supporting musicians plenty of room to move.