Kyle Shepherd Trio

Untitled Basement presents THE KYLE SHEPHERD TRIO

7th & 8th February 2025, 20H00

The Kyle Shepherd Trio performs at the Untitled Basement for the first time in almost 4 years. Kyle Shepherd is one of South Africa’s leading jazz, film and theatre music composers and pianists of his generation, internationally recognised for his distinctive compositional style and performances. He was the Standard Bank Young Artist of the Year for Jazz in 2014 and the UNISA piano competition winner in 2019, and has performed in 28 countries around the world, including 11 concert tours to Japan.

The Untitled Basement performance features Kyle Shepherd (Piano, composer), Shane Cooper (Double Bass) and Jonno Sweetman (drums). With their new release 'A Dance More Sweetly Played', this eagerly anticipated follow-up to their acclaimed previous album 'Dream State' provides a taste of the exceptional artistry to expect from these fine collaborations, the timing of this show couldn't be better.

Show info:

Doors open at 18H00, Performance starts at 20h00

Expect two sets of approximately 45-60 minutes each with a 15minute interval.

Presale tickets are unreserved.

For table reservations, pre-show dinner and drinks email [email protected] or book online: https://forms.gle/grkacCKchZsSbXDd9

About The new album 'A Dance More Sweetly Played'

Join the Kyle Shepherd Trio on “A Dance More Sweetly Played” as they explore, collaborate and improvise with the ‘songs we like to play’.

The album’s title is a dedication to the celebrated South African artist William Kentridge, with whom Shepherd collaborated on a joint-work “Waiting for Sybil” that has toured world-wide.

In addition to ten Shepherd originals, perhaps most unexpected is the inclusion of an exquisite reading of Massive Attack’s ‘Teardrop’ and a deconstructed take of Journey’s ‘Don’t Stop Believing’, a favourite rock anthem that Shepherd describes as a ‘guilty pleasure’.

‘The inclusion of the Massive Attack and Journey tunes – that’s something out of character to me,’ observes Shepherd. The selection rests well within the grand jazz tradition of repurposing popular songs as vehicles for improvisation, thought, and pleasure. ‘It just came down to playing some tunes that we like and we can flow with, so that we can be inspired and express ourselves in a very natural organic way,’ he says. ‘We walked away from the from the studio feeling like – you know, we actually really enjoyed playing this record!’

‘With this record, I felt less attached to any sort of predetermined concepts except that we would play some music that I wrote that we like – a selection of things that we like to play. It felt like a bit of a tonic – every musician gets a chance to breathe through the music, and the music just flows and moves as organically as we could make it.’

To hear one of South Africa’s foremost pianists play with intention, freedom and enjoyment, in the tradition and beyond it, is above all a gift to the listener, and Matsuli Music is proud to be able to share the Trio’s first album in a decade, A Dance More Sweetly Played.

Listen to their recordings on streaming services Youtube/Spotify/Apple Music - search 'Kyle Shepherd Trio'

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