Bob Sheppard Quartet night 1

Some musicians’ careers are easily pigeonholed. Not so Bob Sheppard’s. For more than four decades, the multi-instrumentalist has played on countless sessions with an astounding crop of A-list jazz giants—among them Chick Corea, Freddie Hubbard, Michael and Randy Brecker, Mike Stern, Herbie Hancock, Kurt Elling, Dianne Reeves, Lyle Mays, John Beasley and Steps Ahead—and artists within several other genres. He’s also recorded and toured as a leader, contributed to hundreds of movie and TV soundtracks, served as an educator and more.

But what’s most astounding, perhaps, is that Bob Sheppard still has so much more he wants to do. “My career path was a product of taking intertwining roads, never really knowing where they would lead,” he says. “I continue to stay excited about future projects; the notion of slowing down does not appeal to me in the least.”

He’s been at it since he was a child. Music entered…