01: Charlie Parker ‘A Night In Tunisia’ (Dial Records)
Great old school jazz tune, makes me think of train and plane journeys cause I listen to it all the time on my iPod. I love they way they recorded stuff back in the old days – just one mic and all they wanted was to capture the atmosphere of the whole room and the vibe between the musicians.
02: Al Green ‘Take Me To The River’ (Capitol)
I love this tune, There is only one word to describe it: BIG! I listen to alot of motown and soul especially when I am on the road, its really great travelling music.
03: Foo Fighters ‘Walking After You’ (Legacy)
I remember hearing this tune for the first time when I had just started playing the guitar and I learned how to play this one. Its a really great song.
04: King Tubby ‘Tubby’s At The Control’ (Ruddock)
I am really influenced by the production techniques of the dub producers and I love the way they were so innovative, I have heard stories of how King Tubby used to kick a spring reverb to get the thunder clap noises.
05: The Scratch Perverts ‘Watch The Ride’ Mix CD (Harmless)
This is the perfect soundtrack for coming in and wanting to carry on the party. The Perverts mix, cut and edit perfectly through hip-hop, dubstep, grime and drum & bass. I got them to do a mix of all my recent material for a special edition of my ‘Evolution’ album – it’s f*ckng amazing.
06: Ballistic Brothers ‘Fly Away’ (Junior Boys Own)
Ashley Beedle, Rocky & Diesel aka Xpress 2 aka The Ballistic Brothers have released some amazing music over the past two decades. ‘Fly Away’ was their mighty fine attempt at drum & bass from about 1995. Heavily influenced by Fabio & Bukem’s seminal club ‘Speed’, the keys, vocals and drum edits make this one of my favourite tracks.
07: Cymande ‘Bra’ (Janus)
British funk band from the 70’s who are legendary!! What? You’ve never heard of them? You need to go digging – this tune was one of their biggest. I met one of the bands daughter’s in Amsterdam a couple of years ago and almost hugged her ‘cos her dad’s music was so good. Classic funk break on this with superlative horn section. I think they are touring again so I’m going to try and reach one of their gigs.
08: Jakes ‘Next’ (D Style)
Oh my god!! ‘Next’ is from the new Jakes album. We recorded this the other day – it’s a drum & bass tune but it is so Jakes – laid back, ad-libbing and I’ve added the beats and bassline which perfectly compliment his vocals. Watch out for this.
