The photograph of Andy Sheppard on Rhythm Method shows him looking enigmatic and on Delivery Suite smiling contentedly. Appropriate, I suppose, as these two CDs were conceived, if you’ll excuse the expression, as a celebration of a happy event in the Sheppard household. Check the tune titles!
The first record has the most commercial music, with many of the selections featuring basic riffs and a hypnotic but monotonous bass line and rock-styled drumming. When Andy steps forward for a solo, however, he plays in an assured, straightahead manner, particularly on tenor sax, with his steel-edged tone and logical, neatly resolved choruses. Well Kept Secret features the Big Co-Motion band live at Scott’s and the whole of Delivery Suite was taped at the club with the same personnel.
Gas And Air benefits from a gospelish feel in the writing, some snappy brass work and a contemporary tenor solo verging on the free style. Richardson’s bass line here is adventurous and shows what the former Simply Red man can do when he is not just programming a repetitive, basic thump. Listen carefully and you’ll even hear baby chuckle on this one.
The ambience of Ronnie’s club can be heard and felt in the exuberant swing of the big band on many of these selections; it is a very good live recording.
Given that Andy felt the need to make the music accessible to a wide-ranging audience including the young rock enthusiasts and funk people, this is a well-balanced programme. The discs are available separately and Delivery Suite is recommended as the best of the two if funds are limited.
Discography
[Rhythm Method] (1) Sofa Safari; Undercovers; Access All Areas; So; (2) Well Kept Secret; Hop Dreams (61.54)
(1) Andy Sheppard (ts, ss); Steve Lodder (kyb); Dave Adams (d); Sylvan Richardson (elb); Claude Deppa (t); Gary Valente (tb); Kevin Robinson (t, flh); London, May 21 & 23, 1993.
(2) as (1) but add Julian Arguelles (bar); Ashley Slater (tb); Jerry Underwood (ts); Ronnie Scott’s Club, London, June 12, 1993.
(Blue Note 7243 8 27798 2 7)
[Delivery Suite] Part 1: Perambulator; Part 2: Inside Information; Part 3: Gas And Air; Multi Media; So (69.08)
Personnel as (2). Ronnie Scott’s Club, London, June 12, 1993.
(Blue Note 7243 8 28719 2 7)
