Andy Sheppard (l.) with chef Ivan Vautier

Andy Sheppard was playing live tonight with guitarist John Parricelli on the BBC’s classical music channel Radio 3. He also spoke to presenter Petroc Trelawny about his forthcoming appearances at the London Jazz Festival.

On Saturday afternoon, he is appearing alongside Isigny Sainte-Mère chef Ivan Vautier in a re-run of their cooking treble act with percussionist Michel Rabbia juggling the sounds as well as the drums.

Andy feels the need to travel to Europe every six weeks, because of the food and the culture. As well as admitting to a consuming passion for oysters and good cooking, Andy talked about the time he spent at Le Pressoir in Caen, watching Ivan at work.

“He’s very zen,” Andy observed. As well as recording cattle for the Gregorian chant in Jazz et Cuisine, you will hear chickens and it sounds as though he gets a gag out of the onions, too.

There is still time to book tickets for the gig and the Andy Sheppard interview is spread out over half an hour after the six o’ clock news in this BBC iPlayer streaming audio that is available until November 18. Enjoy.