Influences
02/04/08 13:39
I'm
occasionally asked what my influences are and I
never know what to say because I don't think
there was any one identifiable style to my
playing as a sideman in the Commmotions or with
the singer/songwriters I've worked with since.
You need to support the singer, the song and the
concept whereas in many ways as an
instrumentalist you are the idea. However, this
is the stuff that made sense to me....
The ECM jazz label (almost in general - ECM was a big label for me growing up - I liked their covers as much as their music), George Harrison and The Beatles (too much to go into - would need a section of it's own), Steely Dan (all albums up to but not after Aja), New Wave (XTC up to Drums and Wires, Talking Heads, PIL and Magazine and particularily Andy Gill's Entertainment era Gang of Four playing), Miles - Kind of Blue, Bitches Brew and Jack Johnson, Thelonius Monk, Ry Cooder, John McLaughlin - Extrapolation, Derek Bailey, Jimi Hendrix, Lindsay Buckingham and Richard Thompson. I'm a big fan of Bill Frisell. I can honestly say I've never heard anything by him that I dislike. I like it all - from his earlier ECM work and his work with John Zorn through to the Richler 858 pieces, his playing with Marianne Faithful and Petra Haden and his current Americana investigations. Latterly Mac Ribot's playing with Tom Waits (and I'm also enjoying listening to his album Saints - solo guitar - quite brilliant).