ANGRAJAZZ 2018 [DAY 3] - TERCEIRA ISLAND, AZORES, PORTUGAL, OCT 5

• photography by © Clara Pereira / text by Filipe Freitas

ANDY SHEPPARD QUARTET

British saxophonist Andy Sheppard opened the third day of the festival, leading his European quartet in an interesting atmospheric session with Italian guitarist Marco Tindiglia, French bassist Michel Benita, and Scottish drummer Sebastian Rochford. The latter two are core members of his band, whereas Tindiglia was replacing the Norwegian guitarist Eivind Aarset.
All of them worked on stage to find that desired wide space that characterizes Sheppard’s music and makes it breathe. Many tunes felt like prayers, positioning contemplative melodies on top of soaring harmonies in order to describe beautiful landscapes, either irradiant or dusky. As examples, we had the resplendent “Forever…”, featuring a lyric solo from Benita, and the delicate singableness of “Pop”, in which Tindiglia expressed rapid phrases marked by occasional twisted notes. Yet, I found him more engaging in the art of accompanying rather than soloing.
A new unflappable tune inspired by the bird chants in his garden in Mafra, Ericeira, where Sheppard now lives, was introduced, but the more adventurous moments coincided with the tunes in which he blew the soprano saxophone. The static openness of “Thirteen” and the riff-driven rock of “They Came From the North”, this one offering a boisterous collective passage before a subdued drum solo, were the best illustrations of that. They said goodbye pacifically with “Romaria”, an old Brazilian song composed by Renato Teixeira and popularized by Elis Regina in 1977, which prompted enthusiastic reactions in the audience. It was an enjoyable concert.

BILLY CHILDS QUARTET

If Sheppard leaned more on intimacy and reflection, then American pianist Billy Childs, also playing in quartet, paddled in the opposite direction through a vigorous performance saturated in color. He shared the stage with saxophonist Steve Wilson, bassist Alex Boneham (replacing Hans Glawischnig), and drummer Christian Euman (replacing Eric Harland). All tunes were drawn from last year’s Grammy-winner album Rebirth, except “Aaron’s Song”, a ballad written for his son in 2005, whose introductory solo-piano section gradually expands into post-bop trio angularity. Also set in motion by unaccompanied piano, Horace Silver’s “Peace” was another moment that served the purpose of balancing the effects of rhythmically daring tunes such as “Rebirth”, “Backwards Pop”, and “Dance of Shiva”, all of them carrying tense chord changes, rapid-fire improvisations, and forward-moving pulses.
Before finishing the concert in full force with “The Starry Night”, Childs teamed up with Wilson for a nice duet on “Stay”. The virtuosity of the four musicians not always translated in great emotion, but the majority of the attendees seemed very satisfied with the experience.