Blessed
with musical parents, James grew up in London and Yorkshire
with music and musicians all around him and soon evolved from
early classical piano and drum lessons with the notorious Fanny
Waterman and Jimmy Blades to Jazz, Blues and Rock n Roll upon
hearing John Coltrane, The Beatles, Cream and John Mayall. John
Taverner "taught" him to improvise by duetting on
a full size/3 console church organ and if James played anything
too familiar, a great blast of atonal chords would shatter any
complacency!!In the early 1970's, he formed his first band,
Global VillageTrucking
Company, and 3 years of non-stop touring and living
together established the band as one of the most sought after
UK acts and their lifestyle was documented by the BBC.
James
moved into the highly lucrative world of session music in the
late 70's/early 80's, playing various keyboards (Acoustic Piano,
Hammond C3, Fender Rhodes, Mini Moog) and recording and touring
with the likes of Frank Zappa, Joan Armatrading, Lee "Scratch"
Perry, Annette Peacock, Snowy White, Shusha, Paul Buckmaster
and L. Shankar among others whilst all the time fronting his
own bands. All this activity brought him into contact with international
artists and greatly influenced James' approach and understanding
of the great power of music as an international language! He
started to jam with West Indian musicians as well as learning
Persian and Indian scales and rhythms and turned to his second
love, drums and percussion.as well as keyboards.
In
1980, he joined a pool of Caribbean, Japanese and European musicians
that became The Breakfast Band, a
legendary by-word for musical excellence throughout the country
and they toured the UK and Europe, playing at the Nyon Festival,
Capitol Jazz, Ronnie Scott's and recorded their new, innovative
sound of Jazz/Funk with percussion and steel pan. Musicians
and DJ's would queue and come in their droves to hear and watch
these 7 virtuosos attacking their original material and Calypsos
with sometimes break-neck speed but always with a broad smile
on their faces!! They released an album that was big in Japan
and spawned some hits on the club dance floors of London.
In
1983/4, James took a sabbatical from the music scene
in London and drove himself and his family off on an
8 month trip in a converted Mercedes motor home to Israel,
Egypt, Morocco and all over Europe.He absorbed music
and culture like a sponge and started to collect instruments
and whilst in Marrakech, recorded the annual Festival
of Folklore in the grounds of the ruined El Badir palace.
This cassette recording inspired him to follow his next
dream, documenting and recording Tribal musics from
around the world.
In
1984, James moved out to the US, settling in New Mexico, a mythical
land of space, clean air, mountains, high desert and Native
Americans! Buoyed by the interest in his Moroccan recordings
he started living amongst, recording and eventually releasing
traditional American Indian songs and dances on his own label,
Tribal Music International. This
activity attracted the local Albuquerque university station's
interest and before long, he was resident DJ with his own show,
Global Tribal Music, that explored
the links and origins of instruments and tribes. He also started
a group, It's a Small World Band,
that utilised some of his growing collection of ethnic instruments
and lectured on the subject of music(s) of the world. You can
see the evolving theme and all this music is dedicated to Global
Tribal Harmony.
On
his return to Europe 10 years later, James had added depth
to his understanding of music and the myriad of cultures that
help to create the beauty in the world! He joined Footsbarn
Traveling Theatre Company,
a troupe based in France and with an international cast of
actors and musicians that toured India, Costa Rica, Colombia,
France, Spain, Ireland and UK for 2 and a half years with
a production called "L'Odysee",
the ancient story of Odysseus attempting to return home after
the wars. It was the first production to allow each actor
to speak in his or her native tongue, from Malayalam (S. India)
to Polish!! Composing the music for the show was an amazing
experience and here, all the influences of his global sensibilities
came to fruit, not to mention all the unusual and exotic instruments
and sounds at his disposal. As well as James playing dulcimer
(a newly acquired addition), Keys, balafon, thumb piano and
a host of percussion, there was an Indian flute, tabla, sitar,
percussionist and a Polish violinist and the instruments on
stage outgrew the actors props! (They were known as 3-in-one)!It
also allowed him the opportunity to conduct music workshops
in different countries, something James subsequently put to
good use.
In
the last 4/5 years, James has continued to record tribal/folk
music from places like S. India and Surinam and plays with
a smorgasbord of line-ups including his own "Talking
Spirit", a world music band with musicians
he grew up with,
"Arteast",
a Turkish/Mediterranean original fusion and a Tuesday residency
with Below Solo Express Yourself, a Caribbean/Latin/Funk
band in deepest Camden! He is part of Cockney
Rebel that tours with Steve Harley
in the UK and Europe and he has also been house composer
for the London International School of Film, and composed
tracks for "The Jackal"
, a Universal release with Bruce Willis and Richard Gere,
as well as commercials, radio plays and keeps his hand in
theatre through his Nigerian actress wife, Joy.
Theatre work has included being the resident composer and
performer for Tiata Fahodzi, a
Nigerian run company specialising in staging new plays written
by UK based black writers. One of the highlights is the
annual Tiata Delights staged play-readings,
for which he's asked to become part of the onstage company,
so that the music and ethnic instruments are more like musical
scenery. Also, worked for GLYPT,
Greenwich and Lewisham Young Peoples Theatre and the Arcola
Theatre in Stoke Newington. See more in Giglist
section.
James
has written music for an NHS promotional docu-drama about
sickle-cell disease called Family Affair with
more films on the horizon, something that James is very adept
at and can bring the full range of his instrument collection
to the fore.
Recently,
James has become part of the Carnival Messiah
big band production, a Trinidad carnival take on Handel's
Messiah, with a steel band orchestra playing the Hallelujah
chorus and various of those beautiful and well-known melodies
re-arranged into Soca, Raggae and Bhangra beats! The band
includes 5 percussionists and is 12 strong.
He
has also been much in demand teaching privately and running
workshops for disempowered, disaffected youth around the UK
in schools and estates. By showing them an alternative to
their current self-destuctive lifestyle, James has turned
their thinking to creating positive work in the Performing
Arts dept through music/ethnic instruments workshops, listening
and participation. He's started work with some local kids
in Leeds estates recording their original Rap songs and believes
strongly in the whole range of the Performing Arts (music,
acting, writing, design, movement...) as a catalyst for setting
the youth on the right track and to this end, he's joined
forces with a like-minded organisation called Re:generate.
