Remi and the Jets

So I go for a first rehearsal with Remi, the pianist who'll be playing for me on the recording, and we go through the songs and then get to chatting about some songs he's working on. We head into his tiny studio and he fires up his computer to show me what he's working on right now. Now this is the bit where I feel like I'm someone who was expecting to take a drive in a comfortable but rather predictable Toyota, (I mean I've been around home studios before) however, when I climb into the Toyota I actually find that I'm sitting in the cockpit of an F1 fighter jet and we're doing loop the loops over the Grand Canyon. Remi has enough technology packed into this tiny little box that he could compete with Sony! So we spend an hour or so going through all the ways that one mic in his tiny (and I mean tiny) studio can be used to record some really beautiful music and then play with it after.

For the album I'm not that interested in capturing a 'live quartet' sound in the studio. I've always been in love with more produced sounds. One of my favourite pop albums of 2006 was Ry Cooder's Chavez Ravine: and I think every single instrument on there had been tweaked and produced. Since working with Brian Eno back in the 80's I've been an admirer of what a producer can do with a record. And frankly, I don't think a straight album is that marketable. Another singer, with another jazz quartet... my disc will languish in the 'slush pile' of Agents and Festival's around the world.....



So, the outcome of this technological revelation is that I wanted a producer for the disc and Remi has the goods and wants to do it, so he'll be on the editing, mixing, playing and tweaking side of things. However, because I head back to Canada in July and we need several weeks in the studio to make it work I'm going to have to move the recording up from the middle of June to the end of May!! Which leaves four weeks to work with the musicians and finish the arrangements.... Ayieee! May should be a fun month!