Mark Lockheart is a treasured figure in the story of British jazz over the last four decades. A founder member of the great iconoclastic 1980’s big band Loose Tubes he also proved a pivotal force in the hugely influential 00’s “post-jazz” band Polar Bear. Along the way he’s also worked with a collection of artists that tells its own story of what he can bring to a band – they include Kenny Wheeler, Norma Winstone, Dave Holland and Robert Wyatt. The truth is he’s a superlative, assured saxophone player with a drop-dead beautiful tone. But he also likes to keep us guessing!
For this new project Mark is reassuringly restless in his choice of players, compositions and musical approaches. He’s joined by Huw V Williams on bass and Jay Davis on drums. And Shapeshifting is exactly what they do across eleven tunes, originals from all three of the band and covers of Bill Frisell, Paul Motion and Joe Henderson numbers.
This is a brilliant record from a fine trio led by a UK jazz giant.
This is our Chosen One.