Prior to laying down his first recording as a leader for ECM, Andy Sheppard had more than paid his dues. It’s then of no surprise that since the 2010 debut Movements in Colour, this masterful English saxophonist of exquisitely warm tone and detailed lyrical nuance hasn’t looked back since. He recorded the excellent Trio Libero with a new band in 2012 featuring French acoustic bassist Michel Benita and the London-based ex-Polar Bear leader-drummer Seb Rochford, a trio that was the nucleus for his next two CDs for ECM. Sheppard introduced the vanguardist Norwegian guitarist Eivind Aarset (a sideman on Movements in Colour) on the superior Surroundedby Sea in 2015, on which he turned to a structured song-like sensibility that added harmonic and melodic depth. The new one, Romaria, isn’t quite up to those high standards – it’s neither a return to the tuneful free-jazz of Trio Libero or the sensuous grooving of Surrounded by Sea, but instead leans towards a dreamier, more introspective impressionism. But it’s by no means predictable: ‘Romaria’, the only non-original written by the Brazilian guitarist Renato Teixeira, is more folk-song than chilled meditation. As well, the ominously simmering ‘They Came From The North’ memorably climaxes with Aarset’s classic rock riffage emerging from his signature eerie synth-like sustain, accompanied by Brit drum genius Rochford’s flickering percussion and Sheppard’s probing free-ish jazz soprano.