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Brad Shepik Trio
Biography
Brad Shepik is one of a number of great players (such as Jim Black, Chris Speed, and Briggan Krauss) to move to N.Y.C. from Seattle in the early '90s to make their mark on the downtown scene. His versatility on the guitar has led to performing and/or recording with artists like Carla Bley, Charlie Haden, and Paul Motian, but his particular talent in interpreting the modal musics of Eastern Europe and the Balkans has led to his position as the linchpin of several bands performing ethnic-hybrid jazz.

Pachora, with Black, Speed, and bassist Skuli Sverrisson, combines jazz with music from the Mediterranean Basin. Trumpeter Dave Douglas' Tiny Bell Trio (also featuring Jim Black) applies a slightly more avant-garde approach to the music of Eastern Europe, and the Paradox Trio (Matt Darriau, reeds; Rufus Cappadocia, five-string cello; and Seido Salifoski, dumbek) uses Eastern Europe and the Balkans as their blueprint. As leader of the Commuters (with Peter Epstein, Sverrisson, Salifoski, and Mike Sarin), the focus shifts to combining Turkish and African music with Balkan-flavored jazz. Each of these bands was formed in the mid-'90s and remains an on-again-off-again working project. Shepik is so skilled at this type of music that he has even worked with Yuri Yunakov, a former member of Ivo Papasov's band, performing the frenetic wedding music of Bulgaria.
Selected Discography