my influences

My earliest memories of music (thanks to my Dad and Mum) were Mozart’s Symphony No.40, The Daly Wilson Big Band, Dave Brubeck (particularly the album “Jazz Goes To Junior College”) and Oscar Peterson, all before the age of 5. The one album that stands out as a life changing and life saving experience was “Songs In The Key Of Life” by Stevie Wonder. I listened to that album over and over for a year (when I was 12 years old) and it turned me around from darkness to light.

Later Egberto Gismonti (“Danca das Cabecas”), Pat Metheny, Dave Grusin, Chick Corea’s Return To Forever, Weather Report (Jaco Pastorius!!!!) and Bruce Hornsby blew my mind when I was around 13-15 years old.

Some hugely influential musicians that I didn’t hear till later were Michel Petrucianni, Keith Jarrett, John McLaughlin, Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Antonio Carlos Jobim, George Duke and Bill Evans.

Although I put composers of lyrics in a different category to composers of music (many musicians couldn’t write a lyric to save themselves and visa versa) my life has been changed by these artists through their music and words: Joni Mitchell, Jonatha Brooke, Shawn Colvin, Jimmy Webb, Sting, Stevie Wonder, Leonard Cohen, Robyne Dunn and Tony King.

I owe all these people a debt I cannot pay.