Steve finds himself in New Orleans for some on-the-ground research into Deep Funk (check out last episode if this doesn’t make any sense to you!), and more interviews, gigs, chats and music than you could shake a big voodoo stick at.

Episode 11 will be along soon, but meanwhile check out the first 10 episodes for a pretty broad variety of weird, curious and fun musical shenanigans, and sign up to Patreon for access to my full 2 hr live show recorded at Wilton’s Music Hall with a full choir, Hackney Colliery Band rhythm section and much more.

Back in your feed in the next week or two once there’s been a chance to digest the many hours of fascinating stuff generated from a week’s immersion in New Orleans culture and music.

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In maybe the most varied episode yet, Steve speaks to Nathanial Dye about how terminal cancer reinforced his passion for music (and running the London marathon whilst playing the trombone), then, via a brief foray into the importance of reverb (as performed at Wilton's Music Hall on 20th January), finds himself making a cowpunk song set in East Anglia, with the help of his trusty AI lyricist.

Show website: http://www.originofthepieces.com

Patreon (including access to full recording of Wilton's Music Hall show): https://www.patreon.com/StevePrettyOnTheOriginofthePieces

Nathanial Dye: https://bowelcancerbucketlist.com/

Please rate, review and share!

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Steve talks about and plays some music from recent live gigs (including one with a rather special dress code), and we hear a beautiful performance and fascinating chat from Filament Choir. No genre tombola this time, so strap in for an exploration of Cowpunk next episode…

Steve's website: http://www.stevepretty.com

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/StevePrettyOnTheOriginofthePieces

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Steve kicks off 2024 in typically contrasting style by celebrating the London Symphony Orchestra's school outreach program, and getting lost in a world on samplers and synthesisers as he sets out to create a UK Hardcore version of the podcast intro, courtesy of the genre tombola...

Wilton's Music Hall tickets for 20th January: https://www.wiltons.org.uk/whatson/854-steve-pretty-and-friends-on-the-origin-of-the-pieces

Steve's website: http://www.stevepretty.com

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/StevePrettyOnTheOriginofthePieces

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To close out the year, in this bumper Space Special, Steve is joined by astronaut Chris Hadfield, trombonist Rosie Turton and composer Steve Thompson - all of them trombonists with a number of additional skills in their portfolio!

Steve Thompson tells us about his project 1201 Alarm and how his album Hello World will be the first album on the moon! Then trombonist, composer and stalwart of the recent UK jazz revival Rosie Turton is in the studio to give us a binaural tour of the simultaneously most comedic and melancholy instrument of all: the trombone. And to close out the episode - and in fact the year - Steve interviews astronaut Chris Hadfield, former Commander of the International Space Station, experienced musician and bestselling author. Chris doesn't really do podcast interviews usually, so this is quite a coup, and in this extended, wide-ranging chat, Steve and Chris discuss the links between exploration and music, the evolution of music and its links to mankind's restless, travelling nature, international jam sessions on the ISS, and changing guitar strings in orbit.

Wilton's Music Hall tickets: https://www.wiltons.org.uk/whatson/854-steve-pretty-and-friends-on-the-origin-of-the-pieces

Steve's website: http://www.stevepretty.com

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/StevePrettyOnTheOriginofthePieces

Chris Hadfield's Space Oddity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaOC9danxNo

Chris' books: https://chrishadfield.ca/books/

Rosie Turton: https://www.rosieturton.com/

1201_Alarm: http://www.1201-alarm.com/home.html

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In a little Christmas gift to the listeners, Steve offers us a little taste of the forthcoming interview with Commander Chris Hadfield, astronaut, musician and author, but most of all an incredibly generous and wonderful individual.

Chris performs a song which he wrote and originally recorded whilst he was commander of the International Space Station (ISS), orbiting earth and looking through his window at the 7.8 billion people living on the beautiful blue sphere below him.

Episode 7 will feature an interview with Chris about music, exploration, the logistics of recording songs in space, and much more. TUNE IN!

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Christmas is coming, so of course we had to have a little look at Christmas music, but not quite in the way you would expect, unless minimalist classical composer Steve Reich is a kind of santa figure for you. Steve performs a festive version of Reich's piece Clapping Music, and is nearly driven completely mad as a result.

But then the day is saved by legendary composer and music producer Nitin Sawhney. Steve heads to Nitin's studio to learn about Soleá, the genre he was allocated in episode 5, and along the way discovers a lot of commonalities between Indian classical music and flamenco, how the guitar can be used as a percussion instrument to accompany itself, and some fascinating technical insights into the sounds of flamenco. This free-flowing interview with a musical legend covers all the usual show bases in one go as we learn about the Entertaining Noises of the flamenco guitar, dig deep into Music Feary as we examine the nuts and bolts of flamenco, and of course the Genre Tombola as we look at the commonalities between musical traditions so geographically distinct.

Oh, and Steve gives you a little reminder of his brand new Patreon, where you can help support the show for just $5 a month, as well as getting access to a huge treasure trove of unedited interviews and songs from the show, ticket discounts, exclusive offers and much more.

Wilton's Music Hall tickets: https://www.wiltons.org.uk/whatson/854-steve-pretty-and-friends-on-the-origin-of-the-pieces

Nitin's website: https://www.nitinsawhney.com/

Steve's website: http://www.stevepretty.com

Little playlist of music referenced in the episode: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQPkPcql9kp8MovgfBM0u0Z-BXVWzNAR_&si=HwQLzYIDcsKmY8CJ

Please spread the word, rate and review the show if you enjoy it! It's a HUGE help in these early days. Seriously.

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This episode sees Steve recording in not one but TWO idyllic studios in Norway, where he's been working with some incredibly talented young people, helping them to compose and create music to support a forthcoming Hackney Colliery Band tour there. We hear some of the things he's been up to, as well as chatting with some of the musicians in question about creativity, how to overcome blank page syndrome, and the intricacies of a grand piano. Then, back in Blighty, Steve talks to emo pop fan, album listening club founder and Christmas EP maker L K Francis to get to grips with what emo pop is all about, before he teams up with Chat GPT to create a whole new emo song just for this show!

Oh, and Steve launches his brand new Patreon, where you can help support the show for just $5 a month, as well as getting access to a huge treasure trove of unedited interviews and songs from the show, ticket discounts, exclusive offers and much more.

Wilton's Music Hall tickets: https://www.wiltons.org.uk/whatson/854-steve-pretty-and-friends-on-the-origin-of-the-pieces

L K Francis on Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/gb/song/this-is-our-christmas/1711865299

L K Francis on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7kceyBEKSyxcH8ffqcgH1n?si=ygPpCLm8Tsam4Z3-2Eg2rQ

North Norway Jazz Centre: https://www.europejazz.net/profile/nordnorsk-jazzsenter

Steve's website: http://www.stevepretty.com

Please spread the word, rate and review the show if you enjoy it! It's a HUGE help in these early days. Seriously.

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In the most varied episode yet of this podcast helping you to hear and understand music in new ways, musician Steve Pretty uses a moving experience performing at a Remembrance Day service to talk about musical harmonics, before learning about blues shouting, whistle tones and microphones from singer Nicole Cassandra Smit (including a brief appearance by Jamie Cullum and the Hackney Colliery Band), and finishing off with a deep dive into the niche crossover metal genre of deathgrind, and a discussion about the taxonomy of heavy metal with comedian, musician, and author of the History of Heavy Metal, Andrew O'Neill.

Oh, and there's a track Steve's written which will surely launch his deathgrind career into the stratosphere. But which legendary poet wrote the lyrics Andrew sang? Tune in to find out!

Wilton's Music Hall tickets: https://www.wiltons.org.uk/whatson/854-steve-pretty-and-friends-on-the-origin-of-the-pieces

Abney Park Cemetery: https://abneypark.org/

Nicole Cassandra Smit: https://nicolecassandrasmit.com/

Andrew O'Neill: https://www.andrewoneill.co.uk/

Steve's website: http://www.stevepretty.com

Please spread the word, rate and review the show if you enjoy it! It's a HUGE help in these early days. Seriously.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Steve Pretty helps you to listen to and understand music in new ways, looking at where music comes from, why it exists, and what it is.

This episode, in a bonanza of interviews, Steve speaks to landlords helping to keep the grassroots music scene alive in the UK, invites renowned UK musician and composer Tamar Osborn into his studio to talk about and experience the beauty of flutes, big saxophones and warbly magnetic tape, and then South African trumpet player and educator Claude Deppa valiantly attempts to help Steve pronounce mbaqanga, the South African township music it turns out Steve has actually loved for years, despite not really knowing its name.

But what will be the music Steve will pluck from his virtual genre tombola next week? With 1298 genres left, there is some very real jeopardy there as you may find out at the end of the show...

Timecodes:

Intro: 0.00 - 3.45

Pub musings (with Lesley and Frankie from The Eleanor Arms, Bow): 4.00 - 17.05

Entertaining Noises/Music Feary (with Tamar Osborn): 17.27 - 33.07

Genre tombola (mbaqanga with Claude Deppa): 34.10 - 57.32

Outro and next genre tombola: 57.32 - 60.40

Links:

www.stevepretty.com

Eleanor Arms: https://romanroadlondon.com/eleanor-arms-pub/

Tamar Osborn aka Collocutor: https://collocutor.uk/

Tape delay: https://rvb-img.reverb.com/image/upload/s--Xya5c3HJ--/a_0/f_auto,t_supersize/v1687255861/ckz7j68gd5rhpvikiepo.jpg

Claude Deppa: https://www.grandunion.org.uk/claude-deppa

Mbaqanga playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAQy7UGhyv932ZIgGO5SfIdjru-2DOjNx

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