New album Trio Libero represents a meeting of minds for Andy Sheppard, Miche Benita and Seb Rochford. For Rochford it’s a case of playing jazz with his childhood hero Sheppard; for Benita it’s the consolidation of previous work with Sheppard on the Melody Gainsbourg project; and for the saxophonist himself it’s all about the quest for a new aesthetic. Duncan Heining talks to the band ahead of the album’s release

What’s in a name? Trio Libero speaks volumes. In those two words, lie promises of commitment, connection, freedom and, most of all, the guarantee of great music. Saxophonist Andy Sheppard, drummer Seb Rochford and French bass maestro Michel Benita first joined forces about three years ago. Theirs was a marriage made in Suffolk, which is pretty damn close to heaven, and it was consummated at last for ECM in a Swiss studio last year.

Michel Benita couldn’t make the interview, though we did speak a few days later. However, we met up with Andy and Seb just before Christmas to talk about the album, their forthcoming tour and what it was that brought three very distinctive musical personalities together. Whilst there have been a few gigs along the way, Sheppard, Rochford and Benita have pretty much kept their powder dry since the trio’s inception at the Maltings in Aldeburgh early in 2009.

“We’ve been waiting to make the record,” Sheppard explains, “but it’s been difficult to get Manfred Eicher and us in the same room at the same time. But saying that Manfred seems to have this ability to zero in and say, ‘Now we make the record’. In a way we were like a bottle of wine in the cellar maturing. He got right in there. The music had matured without incessant touring. He got us in the room and captured it. Now we want to take it on the road and develop it and think about music for a new album.”

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