"Whenever the phone goes I say yes. Every week I'm doing something different," he says when I catch him hurrying to his next recording session. This could be one of the reasons Sheppard has received some less than favourable press over the years from some quarters, while attracting rave reviews in other areas for his diverse collaborations and edgier material.

We decided to concentrate our choice of material on American spirituals and then we got sidetracked into artists like Tom Waits and Johnny Cash

Tenor and soprano saxophonist Sheppard, who started out with no formal training and worked his way up through various ensembles, followed by a period as a street musician in Paris, is used to putting himself in unusual musical positions having worked with artists as diverse as Gil Evans, Carla Bley and Baaba Maal and having dabbled in chamber music and Latin-American and African grooves. His latest project promises not to disappoint in this regard.

Talking about his current collaboration with virtuoso classical pianist Joanna MacGregor, he says: "We decided to concentrate our choice of material on American spirituals and then we got sidetracked into artists like Tom Waits and Johnny Cash. It's kind of the American songbook, and everyone looks into that songbook."

Joanna McGregor, with whom Sheppard has worked on several projects over the years is widely credited as being one of the most inventive classical pianists around. Sheppard describes her playing as "a saucer of milk buoying over. It's slightly different because Joanna comes from a different background to me. She can do things with the piano no-one else can."

There's this whole thing at the moment about young musicians being hailed as great jazz musicians. They haven't even lived yet.

Sheppard says the idea for the project came about over dinner at an Italian restaurant in Soho. "We didn't want to get stuck just playing Motherless Child, but wanted to play something more contemporary. Then I discovered Joanna had a passion for Johnny Cash." He says he found it amusing to discover that a classical musician would have a real interest in Johnny Cash or Nick Cave.

He goes on to explain their work together had previously been on a more improvisational level than the project in hand, which is based on a more structured setup and the selection of gospel and spirituals they are touring at present uses samples of recordings dating back to the 1930s.

He continues that they alter the structure of the pieces from performance to performance, "It's always different because we don't do a lot of gigs". He describes the series of performances with Joanna as a creative process in itself.

The pair develop the tracks through improvisation into a product he hopes they will eventually record, the reverse of the process most musicians make, recording the album first and then taking it on tour. Sheppard feels there is more scope for development and a freedom in this approach, which he admits is a fresh one for him: "It's an organic process, eventually the music stands up and becomes 3D. Initially, there was a lot more electronica involved and we have decided to go down a more acoustic route."

The saxophonist, who has been in and out of the spotlight for several decades now, and who many critics saw as defining the nature of British Jazz after the 'dark years' of the 1980s talks enthusiastically about the fresh talent coming through on the British jazz scene.

On the subject of the wave of highly successful, easy listening jazz singers floating around the various charts he is less positive: "It's OK as long as they don't lose track of being honest about the music. There's this whole thing at the moment about young musicians being hailed as great jazz musicians. They haven't even lived yet. When I listen to Billie Holiday I hear life, tragedy, love in her voice and for that you have got to have gone through hardship, and when you're really young you haven't got that."

Sheppard says, as far as British jazz goes, there are some fantastic musicians around, but "it's difficult to get young people interested in the music. London is a case apart, but I tend to work more in France and Italy. The audiences are a cross-section of all ages. You go to festivals in other countries and it's different. This country has gone way down the club line, and people have lost touch with going out to see live music.

"But that's changing. Young people will come back. The music is going from strength to strength and is always moving forward. It's all about getting the audience renewing itself." He sees this as a problem that has to be addressed and points a finger in the direction of the press, who he says do not give the space to jazz, and more generally to a lack of decent clubs and live music venues.

Andy Sheppard and Joanna MacGregor appear at Buxton Opera House on Thursday 24 February.

Link: www.andysheppard.co.uk