Matters

Recorded in late 1997, I got the opportunity to speak to the jazz crossover legend Abdullah Ibrahim.   

An interview, a mere three years into our young democracy, Abdullah lived through the thick of the apartheid mayhem, and here he runs his hands over the scars it left. He spoke frankly about his journey from leaving South Africa and establishing himself abroad, all of which was not easy by any stretch of the imagination.

 Abdullah is probably best recognised for his "Mannenberg" composition, a jazz piece that remains a highly revered anti-apartheid anthem to this day.  Cape Town Flowers, a trio setting, was the album he’d just released at the time. His second trio release – the format was the link between the solo piano compositions and his other groups and symphony pieces. 

Here he talks through the flexibility that the trio offered and its formula. Not just one groove, a capturing of a mood that traversed the country – improvising abounded.  Based in New York and Cape Town, Ibrahim’s mainstay fuel came from live performance across Europe and the United States. “We can play anyway, and people respond to it in the same way." His music appeals to people from all walks of life and always will.   He speaks of settling, but not slowing down. 

At the time he had five more albums ready to go!  Personal aspiration and focused on the people who survived the struggle alongside him, Abdullah Ibrahim remains one of South Africa's finest exports, still.  

#abdullahibrahim, #mannenberg, #capetownflowers, #dollarbrand, #theloniousmonk, #dukeellington

Singer, songwriter, musician, actor, philanthropist and record producer, Josh Groban is all that you see, and some.  In this interview, captured weeks before the release of his ninth studio album, Harmony, I had the honour and privilege to spend 20 minutes with a man whose music and presence carries extraordinary weight.  Harmony was captured and curated pre and through the very worst of the 2020 global pandemic. 

What this interview does (my first Zoom and most recent recording) is present a man, regardless of his station, openly share his innermost thoughts, hopes and aspirations. All of which adds a richness to the beautiful music he continues to make and that, in many cases, actively brings us little closer and helps us all heal.   

If this interview doesn’t strike a chord with you on some personal level I would be very, very surprised. After all, with all we’ve been and are going through, I think we, as Josh put it, “could all do with a little harmony in our lives right now.”

In this unedited cassette-recorded interview captured in May 2005, British composer, musician and lyricist, Jeff Wayne takes the listener on his 27-year journey with his classic and timeless The War of the Worlds score.

What would Jeff Wayne have changed about his original 1978 The War of the World score? Listen here and enjoy more funny tales, working with Sir Richard Burton, and just how he created one of the last century’s most important and referenced scores that triggered the imagination of audiences right around the world, all while staying true to H.G. Wells science-fiction original.

In 2003 Jack and Megan White released their fourth White Stripes, Grammy Award-winning, album, Elephant. This is another of my candid, unedited telephonic interviews - this time with none other than the rarely interviewed Jack White himself.

I resurrected this unedited archive interview with the extraordinary Kylie Minogue from a cassette interview conducted on 21 January 1998. 

Here, Kylie talks through her relationships with the late-great Michael Hutchence and Nick Cave and how she intended to stay relevant. Twenty-two years later, she's done just that, and some!