Can you tell me about your musical history?
I’m completely self-taught. I don’t even have an O level in music, but I did sing in a choir when I was really young. In my formative years I took time off from music, spending all my time in the art room. In my late teens I met a fantastic jazz musician who opened up a world of music to me. When I really listened to Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Thelonius Monk, I realised this was what I wanted to do with my life. I’d been on my way to art school and thought, ‘What am I doing with a paintbrush? I need a saxophone!’
You’re well known as a collaborator – is that a way to stay creatively alive?
Yes, it’s a very fulfilling way of working. Also, as a saxophone player, it’s possible for me to be in several different bands at the same time, which works really well. Touring with my own band proved hard to sustain financially, so I thought, ‘I’ll join a French band, an Italian band, a Danish band, a Norwegian band.’ It’s perfect, because I’m playing with some of the world’s best musicians.
What inspired you to take on the commission for Bigger Sky?
Call me fearless or foolhardy! I’ve always accepted any gig that comes along, because it’s part and parcel of staying alive as a musician. It’s wonderful to be asked, and to write a piece for a hundred voices is a real challenge.
What was there that was new for you in this piece?
Thinking about words was the hardest part, as I usually just work with sound. I had lots of ideas for the music and I knew where we going tonally as well as all the colours that I wanted, but coming up with some text and marrying it to the musical ideas was really difficult. I talked to people a lot about it and went to Amazon to order heaps of stuff. Then I decided I wanted it to be around the idea of communication and music being the international language. Then I thought I’d make the piece around the idea of the evolution of language, so I looked at the Origin of Species. Finally, I got to the story of the Tower of Babel and that led me to speaking in tongues, which is the meaning of glossolalia. As soon as I had that, the piece started to write itself. [Working with] Kuljit Bhamra led to the idea of using ‘tabla talk’, a system which uses the Indian version of do-re-mi as a way of training singers and tabla players. We just happened to have a conversation when I was writing the last part of the piece, so suddenly the piece went to India! I thought, ‘That’s fantastic!’ I love all those musical accidents.
3-March-06
|
 |