Janelle Monae : Tightrope ft. Big Boi

My wake up song this week is Janelle Monae's 'Tightope'. A great song, the best kind of retro & an amazing video. I want to be able to dance like this please !!! Love, tt

Syl Johnson

Paul Bryan in this week's TT Test mentioned an artist new to me Syl Johnson a label mate of Al Green. He also described the chorus on Johnson's track ' Watch What you do to me ' as having the 'grooviest drumbeat of all time '... well,with a recommendation like that I have to post it ! I wonder if you agree : ) love tt

Paul Bryan / Producer, Arranger, Musician

This week's TT test is taken by the very wonderful Paul Bryan [link]. As a producer and musician he has worked with many great artists including Elvis Costello, Lucinda Williams, Allen Toussaint and Aimee Mann. Actually, he is producing my new album, which should be very interesting!! I'm thrilled with his answers and he mentions some music that is new to me which is always exciting. What is your wake up song at the moment? I don't listen to a huge volume of music; I tend to get obsessed with one or two records and spin them over and over again for months. If they can qualify as my wake-up songs then I suppose Joao Gilberto's late 70's LP 'Amaroso' would be a good example. I love the consistent mood and the way the hot and cool elements work together perfectly. Joao's intimate delivery contrasts perfectly with Klaus Olgerman's icy string arrangements. I think Zingaro is my fave track. It's beautiful how the melody is so static but still trips along on top of the flowing chord motion, doubling back on itself- also the way the flutes hand off to the strings in the middle instrumental. I can play this record over and over. Great for remaining mellow in the face of LA traffic adversity.Syl Johnston's LP 'Total Explosion' on Hi records would have to be another. Super funky and bluesy. Syl is always moaning about how hard it is to have a wife AND a girlfriend. The poor guy... life is tough out there. Amazing record. Overlooked as Al Green's label mate. Grooviest drumbeat of all time on the chorus of 'Bout To Make Me Leave Home'. Which work of art or single event has most influenced you in your chosen profession? I've always been impressed by Arif Mardin's production work, specifically on 'Dusty In Memphis'. He was such a class act, capable of both hosting the party and getting under the hood to tinker when necessary. I feel that last bit is important. If the musicians on the floor don't respect you then you're dead in the water. His horn and string arranging capabilities just floored me too; I thought one HAD to be able to orchestrate to do the job of producer when I was younger. I didn't realize it was a kind of weird black art. I am glad I didn't know that or I probably wouldn't have bothered. It's too hard. If you could travel back in time,which period would you most like to visit and why? I watched the documentary 'Style Wars' recently. It shows New York City during the birth of hip hop and graffiti art. 1970's New York riveted me yet scared me pants-less when I was a kid. There is something really beautiful and vital about that filthy, bankrupt punk era. Great new art and music coming out and that dirty style, the kind you see in Taxi Driver and The Taking Of Pelham 123. Maybe growing up in the suburbs made me fetishize 1970's bohemia a little bit, but I would love to go back to that time and live in Manhattan as an adult for a few years and watch it all happen. Preferably from the sell-out vantage point of a beautiful apartment and a lot of money in the bank... can that be part of the deal ? I love eating out & discovering new restaurants, can you please recommend one to me? 'Capo' [link] in Santa Monica, California. But my sentimental pick is the Thai Cafe, 925 Manhattan Ave, in Greenpoint,Brooklyn. They fed me almost every night from 1999 to 2006. BONUS QUESTIONS: What prompted you to make the transition from musician to producer & has it been an easy one? Mostly I got tired of following dumb advice from producers or being on sessions where I felt that musicians or projects were being mismanaged. I thought, 'I should be doing this!' I feel like the greatest sin in the studio is to miss an opportunity to get a good performance. Musicians and singers have their own energy/ language out there in the room and it is a delicate thing and should be protected. They want to know that it's safe for them to do their thing and that you aren't going to drive them into the ground chasing nonsense. Once you establish that and create a supportive environment, defenses drop and it's off to the races. People always want to do their best when they feel appreciated. Nearly all of the records you have produced have been based on capturing a live performance from the nucleus of a band as oppose to constructing a track by multi-layering with individual session musicians. Has this been an aesthetic choice or an accidental one ? It's a choice. Though I do like a balance of the two. While layering a track serves a great purpose, it's still a left-brain activity. Trying to synch a bunch of people up to reach a creative height together is so much more satisfying. Granted, it takes a little faith and the ability to let go and trust the moment. But I feel that if I knew what was going to happen then what would be the point? People responding to each other makes the best kind of musical fingerprint. I feel like that's where real excitement comes from.

Moving to Mars

Refugee Action [link] kindly invited me to the launch of their film festival, that is taking, place online from the 10th-24th June on Brightwide [link]. The programme is exciting; I’m looking forward to two films in particular ‘No One Knows About Persian Cats’ which tells the story of young artists trying to express themselves in the contemporary rock scene in Iran and ‘Moving to Mars: A Million Miles from Burma’ documentary [link] which follows two families of Burmese refugees moving to England from a refugee camp in Thailand. Brightwide, itself, is such a great idea. The site screens inspiring, intelligent and entertaining social & political cinema from around the world and also provides the viewer with the information to become more involved if they have been especially moved by an issue. I hope you will find the time to check out the festival, Brightwide and Refugee Action! lots of love tt

Podcast 14

Podcast 14 has been added !! If you haven't already just sign up to the mailing list to gain access to the Attic to listen to the podcast. Hope you enjoy, lot's of love, tt

Rue McClanahan

Sad to hear the actress Rue McClanahan has passed away. I was captivated as a teenager by her wonderful portrayal of the very seductive & sassy Blanche in 'The Golden Girls' and although Blanche could be a little bit mean it was difficult not to love her sense of freedom & appetite for life. This is a great quote from an equally spirited Rue McClanahan from her 2007 autobiography 'My First Five Husbands... And the One's Who Got Away."People ask me if I'm like Blanche. And I say, 'Well,Blanche was an oversexed, self-involved, man crazy, vain Southern belle from Atlanta - and I'm not from Atlanta..." I guess we all dream of being that feisty , love tt

Kat Frankie: The Tops

This week's wake up song is by Berlin-based Australian singer-songwriter Kat Frankie [link]. I first heard this song a couple of weeks ago and was immediately entranced by it's beautiful melody and taken by the line 'Everybody said to you they won't do love'. Gorgeous & enigmatic, you never really know whether the song marks the end or the beginning of a relationship. Hope you enjoy, lots of love tt

The attic

The attic is now on my website's home page for easier access. Love tt. ps hope you are enjoying the sun ; )

Podcast 13

Podcast 13 has been added !! If you haven't already just sign up to the mailing list to gain access to the Attic to listen to the podcast. Hope you enjoy, lot's of love, tt

Nocturne

Last week was very exciting musically; I managed to catch both of Elisabeth Leonskaja's London appearances. Schubert in a lunch time concert on Tuesday and then on Saturday she was the soloist in the Schumann piano concerto at the Barbican. In a recent interview Leonskaja revealed that what really concerned her during a concert was not the applause, or length of applause, or even booing but the quality of silence that she could perceive between herself and the audience. I’ve thought a lot about this after seeing her perform this week. I always find her performances extraordinary but on Saturday evening she played a Chopin Nocturne as an encore that one critic noted was ‘transcendental’. I was very aware of the silence during this performance, it felt as if it contained the energy of the audience’s concentration, or commitment or just pure pleasure in Leonskaja’s playing and that this in turn was a reflection of Leonskaja’s own energy. A wonderful exchange! Saturday’s concert was recorded and will be available to listen on the radio all this week but I hesitate to listen to it, as the memory of the feeling in the hall that accompanied the music is so precious to me. I think it unlikely that a live recording can capture that... love tt

Jeane Manson : Avant de nous dire adieu

As promised, this week's wake up song is rather cheesy but it's also sexy, it sums up what I like best in French pop music - even though the singer Jeanne Manson is American. A very famous song in France I first heard it in clubs (obviously not in 1976 I was still in primary school !) some time during the five minutes I spent in Parisian clubs during my mid-20s. I have loved it ever since, and play it when I do the dishes sometimes. The favourite songs that I do the dishes to, are all vaguely European chanteuses expressing some aspects of love that English and American pop just can't seem to reach, but we won't get lost in that as 'Songs I do the Dishes to' doesn't really work as well as 'Wake Up Song'. The lyrics to this are great-here is a vague translation of the opening lines : Let's make love before we say Goodbye, Before we say Goodbye, Let's make love because it's over between us, Since it's over between us, Let's make love like it was the first time...' That's a very classy way to end a love story ! Hope you enjoy, Lots of love tt

Tony Blackburn - Disc Jockey

This week’s TT Test is taken by a voice that most people of my generation in the UK have grown up with, the ever-popular DJ Tony Blackburn. He began broadcasting in the 1960s on pirate radio station Radio Caroline and was the first DJ heard on Radio 1; currently (and because I’m a bit of an old soul girl!) it is his Soul & Motown show on Radio London, which I look forward to on the weekends. He is known for his very warm voice & manner, rather cheesy jokes and a deserved reputation for being a very nice man! I’m very happy that he has taken the TT Test! What is your wake up song at the moment? Alicia Keys ‘Empire State of Mind’ – it really gets me up and going at 3am for my Weekend Breakfast show. If you could travel back in time, which period would you most like to visit and why? Controversially, I wouldn’t want to travel back – I want to go forward to 2060 because I think it will be fantastic to see all the new technology. So much has happened since I started my career and I know it will get even better. I love eating out and discovering new restaurants, can you please recommend one to me? The Ivy [link]– it’s my favourite and they do a great vegetarian menu. What is the best advice you have ever been given relating to your professional/ creative life? Keep your feet on the ground and remember that you can be replaced. My first agent also told me to accept everything that was offered to me as my career might not last that long – that was 45 years ago and now I’m knackered! BONUS QUESTION: Over your career you must have met many talented performers & seen great live performances, can you tell us a little about the artists who have most impressed you? Diana Ross – she is just a fantastic performer. There are so many great artists out there but she is head and shoulders above them. I got Diana Ross ‘I’m Still Waiting’ to no 1 in the UK and she hasn’t looked back since! (In 1971 it was largely due to Tony’s championing of ‘I’m Still waiting’ originally an album track that it went to no 1 in the UK Charts).

Happy Taxi !

Yesterday, I was in the back of a black cab & I noticed that the driver had hung a string of small multi-coloured flags around his window. On the flags I could make out what looked like ancient script & I asked the driver what the flags meant. He explained that they were Buddhist prayers & as the wind brushes against the flags the prayers are also gently blown around the world. We then chatted about meditation and at one point I laughed and said, "Well, I've never met a Buddhist cab driver before" (& I've only ever seen St.George's flags,which represent England , in black cabs !) and the driver who did genuinely have a Cockney accent answered :"Oh, there's a few & I know a few Transcendental Meditation drivers too..." This made me absurdly happy. I don't really know why, I'm not religious but the idea of meditating London cabbies is too cool to resist :) Love tt

Illustration (c) Sylvie Bardet

Music, music, music ...

Recently, I’ve been pre-occupied with the planning of my new record (yes, the new record that I seem to have been planning/stalling for two years!) We have finally decided on the final recording schedule, the producer, musicians, the studio and the city in which we will record. I think I even have a title, which is strangely always the most difficult decision… And though I’m no Lady Gaga I must admit a lot of my thinking has drifted to what I will wear in the studio. I want to look the part! One of my favourite photos of a musician and how he is dressed is this famous image of Sviatoslav Richter… it looks like he’s been styled by Margaret Howell ! Will it be wide legged trousers for me? All this crucial thinking explains why my blog has been rather distracted. I will redeem myself this week by choosing a charming but super cheesy wake up song and a TT test subject whose jokes are famous for being cheesy but with one of the warmest voices on radio it just makes him even more appealing : ) lotsoflove tt

Judee Sill: Jesus was a Cross Maker

My wake up song this week is a song I first heard a couple of years ago and found so original that I played it obsessively. The song ‘Jesus was a Cross Maker’ by the brilliant but troubled songwriter Judee Sill still fascinates me - it’s meaning is so elusive. Incidentally, her 1971 eponymous album, on which this song first appeared, is also lovely; I don’t fully understand the songs on that either, but what a gorgeous acoustic guitar sound! Hope you enjoy, lots of love tt.

Podcast 12

Podcast 12 has been added !! If you haven't already just sign up to the mailing list to gain access to the Attic to listen to the podcast. Hope you enjoy, lot's of love, tt

Hair !

I saw the musical 'Hair ' yesterday afternoon [link]. The plot is not so complex, what is really emotive is the show's innocence and idealism. The cast were great and the balance between the voices and the band unusually good. And, of course, with the last song ' Let the Sunshine In' even I get teary-eyed ! Love, tt.

Ramon Tikaram / Actor

My very lovely big brother Ramon takes this week’s TT Test. As an actor he has had a varied career playing everyone from Gaddafi in the ENO’s production of Gaddafi: The Opera, Judas in ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’, Ferdy in ‘This Life’ and even a stint in ‘EastEnders’. I really enjoyed seeing him recently in ‘The Great Game ‘, an impressive production at the Tricycle Theatre featuring twelve half hour plays about Afghanistan. And I’m also thankful he's taken the time to answer the tt test! What is your wake up song at the moment? Long gone are the days when I could wake up to a song and feel energized... long, long gone. I now confine my musical appreciation to the early evening. Basically, every couple of months, for the last eight years, my very good friend Dai Bradley (Billy Caspar from the film "Kes"), has sent me a C.D. It is always from the ECM/ Keith Jarrett/ Ralph Towner/ Jan Garbarek/ Gary Peacock range and always hits the spot. There is, however, one uber-recording that I always return to in times of stress: - Yusef Lateef's interpretation of "The Love Theme From Spartacus" ~ if God has a wake up song, this is it. Which work of art or single event has most influenced you in your 
 chosen profession? I don't believe in single events, epiphanies or sudden metamorphosis. I do believe in the cumulative effect of many experiences whether it is a terrible stage performance, a conversation with a great actor or my eldest son telling me what he thinks of an audition piece. They all add up. There are, however, a few salient moments along the way. Mr Quale giving me the role of Jonah at primary school made me realize what a good skive drama was. Brando's performance in "On The Waterfront" made me want to be an actor for real. Lothaire Bluteau's incredible performance in that play we went to see (‘Being at Home with Claude’-tt ! ) forced me to understand just how far an actor has to go to provide the truth. And finally, Peter O'Toole's attitude to work on set showed me just how simple this business really is. In fact it caused me to come up with a mantra - 'don't think, just do'. If you could travel back in time, which period would you most like to visit and why? If I could travel back in time (a concept which you know flies against every known physical reality) it would be as a student at Oxford in 1960. Open top Morris Minor, picnics in the country, be-bop, quantum cosmology, the space programme, a working National Health Service, an energetic nation looking forward to seismic cultural change, the Footlights, West Ham at the top of their game, the absence of mobile phones and personal computers, and a regulated domestic financial structure. Tell me this wasn't a great time to live. I love eating out and discovering new restaurants, can you please recommend one to me? Recently I have discovered The Compasses Inn [link] (Chicklade, Wiltshire) a 14th century thatched free house with a wonderfully rustic (authentic) interior and a beautiful garden. They serve great game and fresh country produce and they do it with flair and imagination. It has a warm, family run feeling so you're not hemmed in by pomp and ceremony. Moreover the sticky toffee pudding is ethereal. What is the best advice you ever been given relating to your 
professional/ creative life? There are a lot of tips flying around the business of acting. The ones I've found most useful are: 1) When in front of camera and talking to an off-camera actor, always focus on the eye nearest the camera. 2) When on stage and suffering from a lack of moisture in the mouth and throat bite the inside of your cheek; within seconds extra saliva will be produced. 3) Less is more. 4) Don't think, just do. BONUS QUESTION: I know you are a big fan of jazz funk PLEASE explain your enthusiasm for this music to me : ) ? I love jazz. I love funk. What wouldn't I love about jazz funk? Although a fuller answer would be... Jazz funk is just another side to jazz, you know, like traditional, swing, be-bop, Latin etc. All these sub-genres have improvisational virtuosity at their centre. You can change time signature and even substitute electric for acoustic instrumentation but essentially the sub-genres of jazz share the same qualities: melody, melody deformation and a rhythm section that can opt out of the narrative at any point. Funk, on the other hand, is based on a fat backbeat, a binary rhythm that relies heavily on the use of drums and bass and is very spare in its use of other instruments as embellishment. The adoption of funk as the preferred backdrop by certain jazz purists at the end of the 1960's and throughout the 1970's (Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis, Freddie Hubbard, Donald Byrd and Grover Washington Junior) encapsulates what is now termed jazz funk. Have a listen to these guys - you may well love jazz funk too.

Georgie Fame: Perfect

My wake-up song this week is 'Peaceful' performed by Georgie Fame. I first heard this song a few months ago and was immediately charmed by it's breeziness & warmth. I hope you enjoy it too ! I know I've been a bit quiet lately but I hope to have some exciting news to share with you soon !! Happy Easter ! Lots of love tt

4.48 Psychosis & Louis Prima

I saw a production of Sarah Kane’s "4.48 Psychosis" this week from the Polish theatre Company TR Warszawa [link]. I just sort of crumbled into it and was shocked how such an extreme state of despair could be so powerfully & poetically expressed. I think this play & production will haunt me for a long, long time and if you do have the opportunity it is really worth seeing a performance from this truly exciting theatre company.Also, I can’t stop listening to Louis Prima! Do you think it’s a Spring thing ??!! Here is a classic track, Louis Prima and Keely Smith singing "That Old Black Magic", love tt