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Gilles Peterson (Wax Poetics, 2007)
Gilles Peterson’s influence on the UK’s jazz dance scene is inestimable. Born in Switzerland and raised in South London he started his DJ career at the legendary Electric Ballroom in Camden, taking over from veteran Latin Jazz don Paul Murphy.
In the late 80s he started his own night, 'Talkin' Loud & Saying Something' at Camden’s Dingwalls, showcasing the cream of UK’s jazz-funk bands – Jamiroquai, Brand New Heavies, Galliano, Snowboy, Incognito – and setting up the Acid Jazz label with Eddie Pillar.
After becoming a prime mover in the worldwide ‘Acid Jazz’ scene – which quickly became the focus of a media backlash - Gilles then started his own Talkin’ Loud label through which he released albums by a wide and considered selection of artists - Reprazent, Nuyorican Soul, Courtney Pine, 4 Hero, MJ Cole and Terry Callier among them.
Via his pioneering compilations (including the classic "Jazz Juice" and “Blue Bossa” series, which plundered seminal labels such as Blue Note, Prestige and Riverside, “Impressed”, an album of obscure British jazz from the 60s, numerous DJ comps and recent anthologies of old and new music from Africa & Brazil on Ether) and his radio shows, Gilles has played a pivotal role in reintroducing the world to artists like Pharoah Sanders and Roy Ayers as well as breaking a host of contemporary jazz-influenced musicians in Britain such as Zero 7, Cinematic Orchestra and Jill Scott.
His Sunday evening WorldWide show on Radio One has a cult following that tune in religiously to hear the dots being joined between the likes of Sun Ra, Roni Size, Gang Starr, Miles Davis, Stevie Wonder and D’Angelo. The show is broadcast to fifteen countries, including New Zealand, Croatia, Nigeria and the USA…
How did you first get involved in being a jazz DJ?
“I was an annoying 14 year old going to [legendary British jazz-dance DJ] Paul Murphy’s parties, sneaking in through the back door and asking him what his tunes were. Paul hated me at first but ended up giving me his Electric Ballroom gig when he left. I think he thought I’d fuck up and I did for the first 3-4 weeks but the dancers couldn’t get into Paul’s new club (The Wag) so they came back to give me some support. It was there that I made my name.
Do you regard yourself as a serious record collector?
I still get a kick out of going to see [independent UK record dealers] Nik the Record or James Shepherd, or them coming round here with a bag of records and me going ‘Wow, I’ve never seen that before, here’s £80’ but I’m not into the heavyweight Northern Soul thing. The most I’ve ever paid for a record is about £200. I like collecting but I’m less reliant on it professionally. Back in the day having those rare and expensive tunes was the difference between being the hot DJ and not. These days I can get away with playing new music and stuff from my own collection.
Despite the natural eclecticism of the music you play do you think there is a thread that can be followed?
I think so. Jazz and soul is my thing really. When I first heard Hancock’s ‘Shiftless Shuffle’ or Grover Washington Jr’s ‘Sausalito’, I freaked. Then I heard stuff like Maze, ‘Songs In The Key Of Life’…and that’s me at the end of the day. I also love John Martyn, Nick Drake, the singer-songwriters. The older I’ve become the more interested I’ve gotten in free music and the avant-garde too but hopefully people can understand why I play all the music that I do even if it does go off on a tangent now and again.
The ‘Impressed’ album you did for Verve did really well didn’t it?
That came about because I knew this guy who worked at Universal that was a music head. I’d been collecting British jazz from the 50s and 60s and put a tape together, and I gave it to him just because I thought he would like it as a music fan. Then he called me up to release it. I got paid practically nothing and it ended up doing really well, which was a bit of a surprise. In a strange way the more niche things are the more successful they can be. The market seems to love specialist stuff.
You have two new compilations coming out. What can you tell us about them?
The “Brownswood Basement” is for Ubiquity. I have a thing on my Worldwide radio show every few months where I go through all of my records and do a vinyl-only rarities set, so the comp is going to be based on that. The WorldWide Live sessions is about all the people we’ve managed to have on the show and get into the BBC studios over the years. We’ve got new versions and exclusive tracks from people like Roy Ayers, RSL, Dwele, Roy Hargrove, Jill Scott. It’s sounding really good. That will be out on Ether.
Gilles P's Ten Most Influential Records
LATIN JAZZ QUINTET
“LATIN SOUL”
PRESTIGE NEW JAZZ 1965
This has the most amazing sleeve, with a beautiful girl playing bongos and a wicked logo. It’s basically a killer Latin modal thing. I love the tune ‘Rip A Dip’. The Latin Jazz Quartet did some good records in all but this one in particular has balls. It’s got a great version of ‘Milestones’ on it, but ‘Rip a Dip’ is a bit oriental, a bit eastern and it’s in 6/8 so it’s like a waltz - a Latin Jazz waltz with this middle-eastern twist.
SARAH VAUGHAN
“LET IT LIVE SARAH VAUGHAN SINGS ONE WORLD ONE PEACE, A SUITE OF SONGS BASED ON POEMS OF KAROL WOJTYLA JOHN PAUL 2”
1984
This record is a studio recording of a one-off live event that initially took place at the Vatican for Pope John Paul II. The record was made purely for promotional purposes I think, before the live event took place; as far as I’m aware it was never released commercially. The line up on it is amazing. It’s conducted by Lalo Schifrin, and has Sahib Shihab, Tony Coe, Jimmy Wood, - all the big MPS boys and, surprisingly, Norma Winstone who appeared on my “Impressed” album.
HUDSON PEOPLE
“TRIP TO YOUR MIND”
DISCO 45 HITHOUSE 1979
This takes me back to the jazz funk days when I was a kid going to events. I went to this all-dayer in 1979, in Purley, near South London. I remember going there with my mate, both dressed in our Soulboy clothes. He left before me and got beaten up by punks. There was a live PA by Hudson People and they threw some of their records out to the audience. I caught this copy here. It’s still a killer song.
WEEKEND
“THE VIEW FROM HER ROOM”
ROUGH TRADE 1982
This was Simon Booth’s band before he formed Working Week. It’s a record from that period of A Certain Ratio, Young Marble Giants…pre-Sade and Everything But The Girl when it all when it went a bit [UK style bible] The Face. It’s a bit indie but also jazz and Alison Statton sounds very folky. It’s a slow ballad, quite minimal, with bass guitar and vocals and then kicks into this Latin track halfway through, featuring Harry Beckett, another legend.
VALLI SCARELLI
“GET OFF THE GROUND”
LAMBADA 1984
This is a ten minute beat, just bass and drums and keyboards, that goes on and on and on, repeating itself, very tight, an incredible song, and then at the end there is a vocal that said “Get off the floor…” It became the jazz dance anthem at the Ballroom because the dancers would battle each other in the minutes leading up to the vocal and then the losers would have to leave the floor. It was a ready-made record. It took us years to find out that it was sung by Valli Scarelli. The song was originally called ‘Get Off The Ground’ and was from her LP ‘Floating’ on Lambada Records. The twelve we played was jazzier than the album version; it had been released as a hi-fi test record!
This album has a killer tune on it called ‘Tribute To Wes’, dedicated to Wes Montgomery. It’s a killer little beat, a two-minute jazz breakbeat track that every hip hop DJ trips out when they hear it. It’s been one of my nuggets for years and years and no one has managed to get it.
MARK MURPHY
“RAH”
RIVERSIDE 1961
Mark is only just beginning to get respect now really; it’s been slow in coming because of his sexuality and his colour. He was a true jazzman. In the 50s he could have become a Dean Martin style crooner but he stayed jazz. He made lots of albums but this one for Milestones is so solid. It has a version of ‘Milestones’ and ‘My Favourite Things’ on it.
WAYNE SHORTER
“SPEAK NO EVIL”
BLUE NOTE 1965
Every single track here is gold, it’s my favourite Shorter album. The thing about him is tunes; he was just so melodic. I think Shorter’s work is actually a little under-appreciated. There are so many great albums of jazz but this one makes a really great job of combing melody and improvisation. It’s a sentimental album for me too as it’s the first Blue Note album I bought and really dug.
LAST POETS
“DELIGHTS OF THE GARDEN”
DOUGLAS 1977
This is such a funky LP. It’s not like the other albums they recorded for Blue Thumb. This is a total funk record, the drums are just murder. Bernard Purdie’s session for that record was remarkable. I don’t think there has ever been a better hip hop record and I think it’s an absolutely crucial record in any collection. It’s also broken beat too, much more than just a record for that time. The tune for me here is “It’s A Trip”. I can play it anywhere and it’s still the bomb.
DEWEY REDMAN
“MUSICS”
GALAXY 1979
You find a lot of musicians left of centre in the jazz world make a lot of unlistenable records and Redman was one of those. This record is pretty avant-garde but when those free players hit the right beat sometimes…this track on here, ‘Unknown Tongue’, has mad Saharan sounds and a bit of a vocal lick and it’s the ultimate jazz-dance tune. It’s like the Champagne track for me; I only get it out when the moment is right. It’s special.
This is a classic American-guy-goes-to-Brazil-to-make-a-bossa-album kind of thing but the version of ‘Caravan’ here is classic. It was an anthem for Colin Curtis in Manchester, at his Berlin club. I swapped it with him for a copy of the Bottom End, an anthem at my night at the Ballroom.
THE WORLD’S EXPERIENCE ORCHESTRA“BEGINNING OF A NEW BIRTH” WORLD PRODUCTION 1975
There were only a few hundred of these done I think. It’s a really private record. I’m a massive modal jazz fan and this is one of those ultimate records that no one has really ever heard before. It was on E Bay for something like $2000. I mean, look at the cover – it was either gonna be really brilliant or really bad. It has two very long tracks on it. ‘The Prayer’ is the one I love, it’s a post-Coltrane spiritual prayer thing, righteous jazz music, about 45 minutes long - the kind of record you dream about.