I started mixing and recording local bands when I was at Bournmouth & Poole College of Art in the early 1970's - I was studying Photography and Film making there, but Music took over! We had fun doing local gigs, traveling around in a classic Ford Transit van, it was the days of WEM column speakers and WEM 8 channel mixing desks, Hammond organs (heavy) and recording albums in a garage.
By the late 70's I was touring in the UK and Europe, with bands such as Gonzales, Central Line, Clem Curtis and the Foundations, Eddie & Sunshine and many others. I was working with a PA company called 'Swamp' from Oxford. The system was custom made including huge bass bins with 18" drivers - the speaker box's were BIG in those days and heavy as well, not like the efficient modern, processor controlled systems I use now. I was very fit then, with me and Colin, the other engineer, humping the system in and out of a variety of venues, from large concert halls to small clubs and up and down many a flight of stairs! It always seemed that the lift to the 4th floor venue would stop working just before we arrived.
In 1982 I became the Head of Sound at the famous Ronnie Scotts Jazz club in London and continued working there until 1996. I worked with many of the Jazz greats and mixed some amazing concerts. I first went to work at the club with Gonzales for a 2 week stint in January 1982, the gear was in a bit of a state and Pete King suggested I could update it, so I gradually installed new gear and went in every Monday to sound check the band for the week. When the legendary New York Latin group The Machito Orchestra came to do two weeks at the club, Pete King suggested it would be a good idea if I mixed all the gigs, they were a big band with a big sound and lots of big personalities, quite an experience. That was it - I had a full time job at Ronnie's (very full time in the beginning, working 7 days a week) and I continued to work there until 1996. In the beginning at the club, when I told the bands arriving to set up I was the sound engineer, they would back away as if I was an alien, they had all had so many bad experiences of engineers, who only understood how to mix Rock, mixing out all the dynamics of their music, so if they played softly it would be pushed up on the faders removing the subtlety of the music. I understood this, but it took a while to build their trust, but soon I was a familiar face and trusted engineer. All good experience!
The 80's were a very creative time for Jazz, even though the club was often quite empty, as Jazz was not so popular in the UK at that time, the music was great. There were so many fantastic bands, but some highlights were - gigs by McCoy Tyner with John Blake violin, The George Adams - Don Pullen Quartet with Cameron Brown bass, Dannie Richmond Drums, the many variations of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers - hearing the rise of his young talented players - Wynton Marsalis, Jean Toussaint, Terence Blanchard, Branford Marsalis, Donald Harrison,
Mulgrew Miller, Lonnie Plaxico, Benny Green and so many more! Legendary Cuban band Irakere playing their first gigs in the UK at the club, then becoming regulars every year, an explosive band of amazing musicians! Flora Purim and Airto Moreira always with fantastic bands such as Fourth World. Airto is an amazing percussion player, if you never have seen him you have to check him out! Other great performers I worked with were - Nina Simone (quite eccentric), Betty Carter who always had great young players in her band, there were so many more great musicians.
There were also excellent British groups performing at the club - Tim Whitehead Loose Tubes The Breakfast Band, Tim Garland The Ronnie Scott Quintet, Jim Mullen and many more.
I worked with so many other great bands and musicians in my time at Ronnie's, Freddie Hubbard, Dexter Gordon, Pharaoh Sanders, Joe Henderson, too many to list here, but it was great experience and music.
In the late 80's we had an offer of money to invest in a recording facility at the club, so I spec'd and installed a control room upstairs at the back of the club with tie lines from a stage split so I could record the live shows. I decided on a Raindurk Symphony console, Tascam 24 Track tape machine with Doldy SR, Otari 1/2" tape for mixing to, ATC monitors and various outboard effects. It was fantastic to have this facility, the clubs acoustics were dry and excellent for recording, with good seperation and I went on to record over 50 albums and 3 series of radio shows for Jazz FM. The Randurk was a fantastic sounding colsole, one of the best, but not so well known

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Me with B&W Nautilus speakers
from Mix magazine interview


Incognito USA tour, February 2006 - Chicago
Scotty's bus


Recording a Tuvan Morin Khuur
with Boris Salchak from the album Shaman


Gnawa musicians with Byron Wallen from the UK and Flute player Oumarou Namazorou from Niger, recording in Morocco for the album Bambaraka

In 1995 I went on my first trip to South Africa to record for for the MELT2000 label. We had all the rooms at Downtown studios in Johannesburg booked for 2 weeks and spent
15 hours a day, every day, recording as much as possible! It was a big collaboration between several South African musicians, including, Amampondo, Madala Kunene,
Pops Mohammed and more, two Cuban percussion players, Changuito and Mayito from Afro Cuba and British players, Byron Wallen, Ike Leo, Jessica Lauren

Mayito ------------ Changuito

South African engineer Peter Thwaites was working in one studio, whilst I was in another and Producer Ben Watkins from Juno Reactor was recording in another room. It was very intense, not much time for sleeping, but lots of great sessions, so many reels of Multi Track tape and a lot of Rum consumed by Changuito!
This was the start of regular visits to that amazing country, where I was to record and experience some absolutly incredible music and culture.
In 1996 I became the chief Audio engineer for MELT2000 label and was responsible for
the specification, construction and management of their studio, (Brownhill Studios, West Sussex), booking and running of sessions and engineers, maintenance of studio and computer equipment.

Later I was to return to South Africa to record the Cuban group Irakere. They were the first Cuban group to play in South Africa, I recorded them in Johannesburg playing a live outdoors concert and a gig at Mega Music, the atmosphere at both was electric! So far
the recordings have not been released, but I am mixing them now and the album will be available on the MELT label later in 2007
From 1995 to the present I have been visiting South Africa once or twice a year for various recording projects, working in different studios and location recording in townships and rural areas. There is so much music in that country, its not just entertainment, its part of everyday life.

Transkei woman with Mouth Bow

One one trip me and camerman Dick Jewell drove from Durban to the Transkei to record and film choirs, women, men and kids, in a rural village with Simpiwe Matole from Amampondo. The recordings were done in a traditional Rondeval hut and on a hillside using a Nagra digital recorder and it was an amazing experience.

Transkei - South Africa

I was also the live sound FOH engineer and tour manager for the many of the labels artists - including - Amampondo, Moses Molelekwa, Busi Mhlongo, and Madala Kunene. (4 tours of North America, 2 European tours) + gigs in UK and South Africa.

Amampondo

Im still involved with the label, which is now based in South Africa, recording, mixing and mastering for them.

Over the last 4 years I have been busy recording, mixing and mastering albums in london. Recording albums for many of the new young Jazz players, The Tim Lapthorne Trio Christian Brewer Quintet Kathleen Willison, Jonathan Bratoeff, Jim Hart, Justin Quinn and many other Jazz artists - Esther Miller, The Homemade Orchestra, Tim Whitehead, Giovanni Mirabassi, Gina Harkell, classical composer Colin Riley.

In 2005 I started doing the live FOH sound for Incognito and have been touring all over the world with them. Great band, good music, nice people to work with and we have a lot of fun on the road. Check Info for upcoming gigs and try and make it to one gig at least!