1st of July 2005

Sitting on a new album

It is a funny feeling to be sitting on a new album that no-one has heard yet. It was made so quickly and so definitely that in the back of my mind I think it should be on the shelves already.

The album I'm sitting on however, is currently very big despite being acutely aware how unfashionable long albums are. This is something I am avoiding thinking about for now. We start mixing on Monday where we will treat every song like a lead cut and begin to cull once we have fully mixed all the tracks. They will be tough decisions as all the tracks have become close intimate friends. Of the 19 tracks we recorded, 14 are songs I wrote with and without other artists, we have 3 standards, 1 contemporary cover and 1 wildcard.

That is all I can reveal for now apart from the fact that I learnt to play the guitar again, properly for this record and I felt 15 again. As soon as it's mixed I'll be able to think straight about it for at the moment I feel like I'm floating around in a giant bubble incapable of objective thought or criticism. But I will say, without embarrassment, that I am proud of this beyond what I thought possible.

Our gig at Coachella and New Orleans Jazz Festival were reminders for me a) how to play a gig and b) why I like playing in America so much. A wonderful appreciative and noisy crowd greeted us at both, oven-like, outdoor festivals where someone very kindly introduced me to the phrase "sweatin' like a whore in church" which has almost eclipsed my love of the similarly lucid phrase ?polka rocks? (see last journal). I got to see some great acts; Randy Newman, Roots Manuva, Weezer, Wilco, Bloc Party and Coldplay. Seeing Weezer and singing along to "In my garage" reminded me of my first band featuring two guitars and a drummer - we were simply ahead of our time, and ourselves. Everyone at Coachella was so well dressed and calm that I wondered if a magic wand was waved which magically swapped the Glastonbury crowd with the Coachella crowd the latter would assume they had been dropped into a warzone.

The luxury of being at home for a little bit has meant I've been able to see some gigs recently. Two that particularly stand out were Beady Belle at the Bordeline and Herbie Hancock playing with the improvising dance group The Bays. Both shows blended jazz with modern beats and sounds in a way I've never heard. I am normally disappointed when I hear this kind of collaboration of styles - either the jazz suffers or the dance/electronica side does. The Herbie collaboration was particularly interesting and in some ways reminded me of what jazz is really about - communication through improvisation. Herbie arrived onstage with a band he has never played with before. The gig began with the drummer Andy Gangadine suggesting a mid-tempo techno groove that began to build and build. Over this a wash of synths and a rumbling bassline but nothing was really happening: Herbie filled a few spots with some piano runs and messed about with a keyboard whilst The Bays did their thing though sounding encumbered and confused. It would appear however that this spluttering beginning was merely the two bands sussing each other out. There was a moment where the electricity started pulsating through the music, you could feel the musicians start to peak and everyone in the room felt it too. From this moment on the gig hit an incredible groove and intensity and achieved a brilliant synergy between dance music and improvised jazz. I imagine right before Herbie hit his stride the thought went through his mind: "Hang on! I invented this music!..." It was stunning to see this growth of communication and invention unfold in front of my eyes and with the absence of chord changes, changes of time and all the usual things that are supposed to fuel a great jazz performance, Herbie Hancock, my hero once again, sounded better than ever.

Speak soon.

Jc

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