Gilles Peterson, Music Pioneer :: 120 Seconds

Gilles Peterson of Brownswood Recordings shares the extent of his obsession with Arsenal Football Club and some insight into why he's taking a break.

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Music lover, record collector, DJ, broadcaster… Perhaps most famous for his much loved genre-exploding radio shows on BBC Radio 1 (and 17 other stations around the world including Japan’s leading commercial station J-Wave), Gilles’ insatiable appetite for new music undoubtedly lies at the heart of his success. Worldwide is 10 years young and fresher than ever – a benchmark for broadcasters the world over; global demand for his DJ sets is at an all-time high; the mighty Worldwide Festival (held annually in France and Singapore) curated by GP just gets better and better; and as for his record label Brownswood Recordings? Well, it just goes from strength to strength.

His Brownswood label recently dropped Volume 4 of the acclaimed Bubblers series and a classy second album from pianist Elan Mehler – ‘The After Suite’. A new set from singer Jose James is imminent. The album entitled ‘BLACKMAGIC’ finds him breaking new ground, collaborating with Warp’s Flying Lotus and reworking Afro Warrior Benga’s ‘Emotions’.

Gilles is actively working on remixes for Brasilian super star Seu Jorge and Brooklyn-Lagos-Paris-London based Afro surrealist Keziah Jones. He is also enthused about a bunch of brand new tracks resulting from a collaboration between Elmore Judd and two Kenyan musicians – Owiney Sigoma. The final mix is to be done in Damon Albarn’s studio in early 2010.

However, it’s Havana Cultura, an ambitious project focusing on contemporary Cuba, sponsored by Havana Club, that has the DJ most fired up. Coinciding with the 50th Anniversary of the Revolution and the easing of embargoes on Cuba, Gilles made a second visit to Havana in July 2009. He worked at the Egrem studios in conjunction with young, virtuoso, pianist and arranger Roberto Fonseca and together they have succeeded in uniting a host of young artists including rap crews Ogguere, Free Hole Negro and Obsesión plus vocalists like Danay, Telmary and Kumar. Of the older generation, it’s only the mighty Mayra Caridad Valdés, sister of piano legend Chucho, who makes an appearance in the mix. The double album, released on Brownswood Recordings, unites the dynamic and fresh studio recordings with an accompanying CD of tracks collected from Cuba’s urban underground on this and a previous visit.

Jazz is Peterson’s religion. After delving into his spiritual jazz archive in Brownswood’s vinyl bunker he has co-curated the book ‘Freedom, Rhythm and Sound: Revolutionary Art Covers 1960–78′ with Soul Jazz supremo Stuart Baker. Also on the deep jazz front Gilles confirms that the Horo catalogue – a final outpost of indie jazz which has been left untouched to date – is about to see light of day in 2010. A “deep compilation for the headz” has been crafted and mastered and is destined to get a worldwide release.

This year’s Worldwide Festivals in Sète and Singapore have proved established events and the sublime Sète Festival just down the road from Montpellier on France’s gorgeous Mediterranean coast, now in its fourth year, reached tipping point, sold out and broke even. Next year Gilles is looking to expand to Sao Paulo. October saw him in Japan for the annual J Wave Celebration Of Live Music in the mix with Khromanium, Salsa Swingoza and Quasimode. A Tokyo Heavy Hitters DJ clash at the Liquid Room included DJ Kentaro, DJ Mitsu The Beats, the legendary Muro and Raphael Sebag.

A lightning strikes three session foray into New York at the end of ‘09 will include an exclusive Q Tip party at Santos, a very special session at the Museum Of Modern Art and a Monday night on the decks at Deep Space with Francois Kevorkian.

Basically, the man’s DJ schedule is as mental as ever and over the next year he plans to explore new audiences in Kazakhstan, India (Mumbai + Calcutta) and Bangladesh (Dhaka). Gilles will touch down in Australia to play WOMAD in Adelaide in March. Nearer to home his new residency will be in the back room of a new session at Corsica Studios. Never tired of engaging with the cutting edge sounds of a new generation, this session will be a collaboration with dubsteppin’ We Fear Silence Collective featuring an awe-inspiring array of dubstep’s leading lights.

For more info on Gilles:

brownswoodrecordings.com

http://www.gillespetersonworldwide.com

N'Dea Davenport, Singer + Songwriter :: 120 Seconds

N’Dea Davenport of The Brand New Heavies shares her personal journey of overcoming uterine fibroids while raising awareness of the importance of getting proper health screenings.

N'Dea Davenport, Singer + Songwriter :: 120 Seconds from friendswelove.com on Vimeo.

About N'Dea:

The soulful voice of vocalist/ songwriter/ producer N'Dea Davenport first emerged in 1991 when she became the front woman for the Acid Jazz British funk band, The Brand New Heavies.

But long before worldwide notoriety was present, she fell in love with music, dance, performing and the arts. "I think I got involved in almost everything creatively I could do when I was in school, to keep my mind busy to try and stay out of trouble. From sports to theater, you name it. I probably did it." A regular routine of piano and dance studies were the core of her development. Ironic as it is, singing would later be the focus of her affections.

As soon as it was possible to "break out" as she calls it, she left her home town of Atlanta, with little more than 300 dollars on route to Los Angeles with the primary goal of just going somewhere she had never been to alone. Little did she know, that early sense of adventure would begin a chain-of-events that would change her life forever.

After landing in Los Angeles, she became inspired and apart of the burgeoning underground "club warehouse scene." Within the flourishing community of artists, fashion designers and musical talents, it was such as celebration of funk, hip-hop, rock, punk, graffiti, performance art and everything between. Meeting the late Keith Herring, Jean-Michel Basquiat and the very much alive Fab Five Freddy, was really special." And after a reluctant impromptu song for Fred, he quickly got word to his dj-club owner friend that happened to be one-half of the newly formed record label, Delicious Vinyl. Soon after, she found herself recording and planning for her debut CD.

As fate would have it, a British group called The Brand New Heavies, were signed to the label shortly after. With no lead vocalist, and N'Dea's love of collaborating, the tone was set for a magical combination. She relocated to London with the Heavies, where they gave birth to an international movement known as Acid Jazz. Fusing funk, soul and RnB, the term Acid Jazz has also been known as "The second coming of soul" re-establishing legacy, and opening the doors to Neo-classical soul.

In 1995, after years and at the height of their commercial success, N'Dea simply packed up heading back to the U.S. leaving London and her former bandmates. After returning, she continued to develop her solo cd, and collaborate with various artists including, Mos Def, Everlast, DJ Krush, Dallas Austin, Guru (Jazzmatazz), Natalie Merchant and Daniel Lanois to name a few. Her self-titled debut, the effort she put on the back burner for several years, was released on V2 Records in 1998, boasting the funky flavor that listeners have come to expect from her. It takes you back to the day when music wasn't lumped into preconceived, easy to digest categories. And personally leading her on to the experience of musical freedoms and self-exploration producing and orchestrating the mass majority of her projects. Her songs are often laced with social commentaries meant, not to provoke, but to trigger thought and inspire dialogue. She is continuing that process, by developing, and performing new material for a forth-coming cd.

Links:

http://www.myspace.com/ndeadavenport