For me, like all musicians, live shows are off.
This means my normal Big Band touring schedule has been postponed until the lights are turned back on. This dramatic change in my routine has given me a moment to reflect on a number of things – one of which is how many opportunities are often staring us in the face without us noticing.
For example, it has not been possible for us to make the usual version of my BBC2 series Later… because of the restrictions on how many people you can have in one room. However, with the series producer Alison Howe, we have come up with a brand new format.
The BBC, through its various outlets, has the biggest commitment to music of any broadcaster in the world. From Stravinsky to Stormzy, the BBC gives us the lot. Its long-term commitment to my show has meant that we have built a huge archive of extraordinary performances of all genres of music.
But until now, we have never really found the best way of revisiting them. The current shows involve one-on-one interviews with a musical guest who talks me through their life in music and the artists who have inspired them, whose performance they select from our archives.
I hope you’ve been able to watch them. If you have, it might be because they’ve been shown at 10pm on Friday night. For the past three decades, the shows have been on after the shipping forecast, when only ghosts and lunatics are watching. I hope people like the new shows. Whether you do or not, the point of my realisation is that we wouldn’t have come up with them had it not been for our forced change of circumstances.
As in nature, winter is the time for preparation and spring the time for display. So, like many musicians and artists, I’m using this time to work on a new record for next year. It’s a project based around the piano and its friends. A few years ago, I got a set of 78 records from the 30s entitled “Albert Ammons Piano Party”.
Side one of the first disc is Albert playing solo piano. Side two, there is a knock at the door and Albert welcomes in the drummer and bass player. As we progress through the other sides, Albert and his piano welcome in different instrumental soloists. This inspired me to make a piano record featuring other great instrumentalists and instruments, from the trombone to the human voice.
I set to work on this at the beginning of the year with my long-time producer Laurie Latham. For various reasons, including the fact that he has to self-isolate, Laurie could only complete the first few tracks. This put me in a quandary, as I had other artists coming in to collaborate with me, and I now needed a new producer to finish the record with me.
The first of these artists to come in was Nitin Sawhney. We got through the session using a good engineer, but the question kept weighing on my mind: who would be the right person to produce the rest of the record? That day Nitin and the brilliant violinist Anna Phoebe were recording my composition entitled “The Worst Man in London” (you can decide for yourself who that might be).
In between the takes we had a break and, over tea, cake and sandwiches, I thought about discussing my need for a producer with Nitin. He has very good judgement on musical matters.
In my mind, as I slowly chewed my sandwich, I was trying to think about how to explain to Nitin what sort of credentials the producer would need: someone who had an equal understanding and sympathy towards classical music, boogie woogie and the blues; somebody who was a good arranger who understood the piano; someone who was used to collaborating with artists from different spheres’ and finally, someone who would have a great sense of humour, which always makes work a much more agreeable process.
I sipped my tea, preparing to ask Nitin if he knew someone who fitted the bill, I realised I knew someone who did – and he was staring me in the face. It was, of course, Nitin Sawhney, and I’m delighted to say he has agreed.
Nitin and I got talking about people and piano players we liked. The South African Abdullah Ibrahim came up. Abdullah performed on a recent series of Later…, when he told me his mother had been a cinema organist. “So what was the first music you heard?” I asked. He thought carefully before saying that for him it was the silences in between the notes that often created musical intensity and beauty.
He paused again, then looked at me and slowly said: “The first music I ever heard was when I was in my mother’s womb, and I heard the silences between her heartbeats.” For me, this qualifies as one of the greatest answers to this question of all time. It also reminded me of something else that is staring us in the face: take the time to listen to the silences in between.
This Week I’ve Been…
Making…
Vic Reeves and I are making a podcast together where our guest chats about a motorcar that has been important to them – either because it took them on a journey, because it was a much-loved possession or whatever. It was explained to us that it was a good idea to have a sponsor. I was imagining Gucci or Mastercard; Vic suggested Fray Bentos pies.
Modelling…
I find it relaxing to spend the odd moment working on additions to my model railway layout. I’ve been building a swinging London 60s Fray Bentos headquarters. My layout is filled with all sorts of interesting buildings. I have some that have been demolished or bombed in London, such as the Euston Arch, St Clement Dames Church on the Strand, and my Nan’s greengrocer shop in Old Dover Road, Blackheath.
Half of my layout is based on London, the other half is based on places I have visited on tour in Europe. I have Rembrandt’s house from Amsterdam, Rubens’ house from Antwerp and Berlin’s Checkpoint Charlie. The next building I’m planning is based on a particularly delicious restaurant we had lunch in when we were playing in Leverkusen, the noted Hotel Fück.
Listening…
I always like listening to something new and something old in tandem. For brand-new music, I’ve been listening to Wow is Now, a debut five-track EP by Ms Ray – I’m particularly enjoying “Gave it Away”. For my old music, I’ve been enjoying Sammy Price and the Blues Singers Vol 2 1939-1949.
I first heard Sammy Price when I was a small boy, playing piano on Sister Rosetta Tharpe records. Hearing his blues piano with these great voices improves the ambience of any room – and my mood.
Later…with Jools Holland continues on BBC Two, Fridays at 10pm