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, Trio Libero, convened by UK saxophonist Andy Sheppard, proposes music of graceful lyrical invention and emotional depth. On the debut recording of this free-spirited group, freedom is extended to melodies given room to breathe and to grow. There is space in the music and independence for each of the players, space for individual expression, as well as the possibilities for dialogue and interaction at any moment. From the beginning of the trio association of Andy Sheppard, Michel Benita and Sebastian Rochford, all these options were evident. To explore the group's creative potential and to develop repertoire, early in 2009 Sheppard set up a residency for the trio at Snape Maltings, Aldeburgh.

"I basically locked the trio in a room for four days and said let's just improvise together, record everything and see what we come up with. I'd brought along some tunes as well, of course. This was the start of the band. We seemed to be able to improvise virtually complete tunes. Afterwards I just spent some time harmonizing and editing and so on." Some of the material created at that first exploratory session would resurface on the ECM debut, recorded two years later (in July 2011) at Lugano's Auditorio Radiotelevisione svizzera. The piece here titled "The Unconditional Secret", for instance, is "more all less a straight transcription of a free improv dating from the Aldeburgh residency." A modus operandi was thus established: "Improvise, write it down, develop it, then replay the tune with fresh improvisation: a trio libero."

If 2009 was the beginning of things, the musicians, individually, had been crossing paths over a much longer period. Michel Benita and Sheppard collaborated on occasional gigs in the 1980s, when Sheppard lived in Paris, meeting up again six years ago to tour with pianist Rita Marcotulli. Then Sheppard invited the bassist to join him in a project at the Coutances Jazz Festival in 2008. Headlined "Melody Gainsbourg", it was a celebration of the music of chansonnier Serge Gainsbourg, and quite some distance from the present project. The drummer on the gig was Sebastian Rochford, making this the first occasion when all three players had been on the same stage at the same time. "Seb and Michel were clearly having a ball playing together, and that was when I started to think about the Trio Libero idea. I just felt that anything was possible with these guys."

Already in 2002, Sheppard had approached Rochford after seeing him play at Ronnie Scott's Club. "We did a few gigs over the years, but it wasn't really until the Coutances project that we had a chance to work together more intensively."

Active across a slew of genres as songwriter/composer and producer as well as exceptionally creative drummer, Seb Rochford has played with a boggling diversity of artists. Amongst them: Yoko Ono, Patti Smith, Herbie Hancock, Marc Ribot, David Byrne/Brian Eno, Stan Tracey, and the Britten Sinfonia under Joanna MacGregor. An early member of indie rock band Babyshambles, Rochford's own groups and projects include Polar Bear, new band Jyager Bear - with MC Jyager, Pete Wareham and Shabaka Hutchings -, avant-garde rock trio Big Dave, electro-acoustic quartet Fulborn Teversham, and Silver Birch, the new line-up of the band formerly known as Acoustic Ladyland. Rochford's interest in playing jazz was, he says, originally triggered by seeing an Andy Sheppard concert in his hometown of Aberdeen when he was 15 years old. He has cited the influence of Elvin Jones and Martin France on his development of a personal drum style that rarely lingers long on the ride cymbal.

All three band members are leaders, united in their open-mindedness. Algerian-born Michel Benita, who has played with some of the strongest names in jazz, had Dewey Redman in his first quartet alongside Rita Marcotulli and Aldo Romano. A 2008 album "Ramblin'" reflected a love of country music, bluegrass and folk. He has also collaborated with Japanese koto player Mieko Miyazaki, Vietnamese guitarist Nguyên Lê, and proto-rapper Jalal from the Last Poets. An internationalist at the heart of the French scene since the early 1980s, Benita honed his craft in the jazz clubs and concert halls of Paris playing with an extensive roll call of visiting players, expatriates and local musicians - the list includes Archie Shepp, Horace Parlan, Billy Hart, Joe Lovano, Bobo Stenson, Joe Diorio, Gordon Beck, Enrico Rava, Dino Saluzzi, Lee Konitz, Harold Danko, Jon Christensen, Nils-Petter Molvaer, Joshua Redman, Tom Harrell, Roy Haynes, Charlie Mariano, Peter Erskine, Kenny Wheeler, Steve Kuhn, Kenny Werner, Enrico Pieranunzi, François Jeanneau, Daniel Humair, Michel Portal, Toots Thielemans, Martial Solal, Michel Legrand, l'Orchestre de Lyon and many more.