Gilles Peterson

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Gilles Peterson
Gilles Peterson

Gilles Peterson (born c. 1961[1]) is an influential DJ and record-label owner from London, UK. Through his labels Acid Jazz and Talkin' Loud he has been associated with the careers of countless well-known artists of the 1990s such as Erykah Badu and Tony Rich. He is also well known as a radio DJ: he used to have a radio show on London's Kiss FM dance music station, but was recruited to the BBC's youth-oriented Radio 1 in 1998. Peterson is known for his eclectic musical selections. Though not as "anything goes" as the late John Peel, he plays anything from dub and reggae through jazz, nu-jazz, soul, neo soul, R&B to drum and bass, house, broken beat, hip-hop and Jazz-funk.

Widely acclaimed as a musical tastemaker, spreading his influence on music listeners around the world mostly through his Worldwide radio show [1], on BBC Radio 1 which is also broadcast live from the Radio 1 website as well as syndicated to radio stations all over the world, such as FM4 in Austria and Radio Helsinki in Finland, and through his frequent gigs around the world. He has recently started a new record label called Brownswood - named after the house he had to move out of after his record collection became too big, and which now acts as a warehouse for his enormous collection of vinyl.

Contents

[edit] History

Attending The John Fisher School, in the mid- and late- 1980s, Gilles Peterson was already known on the London circuit as a DJ specialising in the new breed of "acid jazz", drawing on the jazz, funk and Latin fusions of the 1970s. First heard as a DJ on the London pirate radio staion Solar, he went on to host the show 'Mad On Jazz' on BBC Radio London between 1986 and 1987, then ran a notable club night in Camden.

[edit] Dingwalls

One of Gilles Peterson's best remembered club sessions was Talkin' Loud Sayin' Something at the old Dingwall's club in Camden, North west London which ran from the late 1980s until March 1991. The sessions were characterised by jazz dancers in suits hats and spats, heavyweight jazz dance classics including tracks from Yusef Lateef, Pharoah Sanders, Freddie Hubbard, Airto and Herbie Hancock; but the jazz was fused with hip-hop and the more experimental tracks. Gilles djd alongside Patrick Forge at most of the Dingwall's sessions and many other club nights and music weekenders. On October 8th, 2006 Gilles Peterson & Patrick Forge played at a one-off show at the old site of Dingwalls (now a Jongleurs comedy club). A compilation of popular songs from the club was also released at the same time, titled Sunday Afternoon at Dingwalls.

[edit] Jazz FM

In March 1990 Gilles Peterson became a dj on London's first ever dedicated jazz station 102.2 Jazz FM, now known as Smooth FM. The three hour show was stripped into sections including the Samba 60 and the Vibrazone and artists as diverse as Justin Warfield, Sergio Mendes and Leon Thomas would all appear on the same playlist. He was forced to leave the station after making anti-war comments during the 1st Gulf War.

[edit] Kiss 100 FM

September 1990 saw famous London pirate dance music station Kiss 100 FM become legal when it acquired a licence and started to broadcast from Holloway Road in North London - Patrick Forge was then given the space to create his own show, with the two DJs continuing to work together at Dingwalls until the 'last dance' on the 3 March 1991.

Gilles then moved over to Kiss himself, having been fired by Jazz FM for making anti-war comments during the first Gulf War - his shows on Kiss were legendary, playing acts as diverse as Josh Wink, Gang Starr and Horace Silver in the space of a single programme. He was then hired by Radio 1 in 1998 and takes great pride in the show's concept of 'joining the dots' between different styles of music.

[edit] Radio 1

Through his BBC show Worldwide, which was produced by long time collaborator Benji B [2], Gilles Peterson has continued to stretch the musical boundaries. In August 2004 the show moved from Wednesday to an earlier Sunday slot (1100 to 0100) with a spectacular live outside broadcast from The Big Chill at Eastnor Castle Herefordshire featuring Bugz in the Attic performing a DJ set, and interviews with house DJ Tom Middleton and Mr. Scruff.

One of the highlights of the new format BBC Radio 1 show has been the sessions from the BBC's legendary Maida Vale studios. These have included artists such as: Roots Manuva, Outlines and Platinum Pied Pipers.

Radio shows and gigs continue to fuse hip-hop, jazz and soul with the newer styles of broken beats Nu jazz' alongside the odd dub plate and drum and bass track. The Worldwide awards were started by Gilles at the club Cargo in 2004, and moved to the bigger Koko in Camden in 2005, with full outside broadcast coverage by Radio 1. He has also released several DJ mix CDs and compilation CDs. Peterson is a regular at the Southport Music Weekender, and plays regularly at London's Cargo club at a night called Independent mix, which takes a similar format to Dingwalls with guest DJs and bands. Annually, Gilles chooses his favourite records on the Worlwide Winners Awards.

[edit] Worlwide Winners

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

Tracks of the Year

Albums of the year

2004

Tracks of the Year

Albums of the year

2005

Tracks of the year

Albums of the year

2006

Tracks of the year

Albums of the year

[edit] Radio show moved

In September 2006, Peterson's show on Radio 1 was moved from Sunday night to the early hours of Thursday morning, starting at 0200 GMT - for two hours. The first show included a live appearance from Lupe Fiasco.

[edit] Record labels

Gilles Peterson has been integrally linked with 3 record labels. In 1988 he and Eddie Pillar founded Acid Jazz Records, an influential label whose roster included the Brand New Heavies, Jamiroquai, Corduroy, the James Taylor Quartet and Snowboy. After growing disillusioned with the scene that grew up around the label, he went on to run Talkin' Loud, enlisting the help of fello DJ Norman Jay.

The label drew it's name from the James Brown track Talkin' Loud & Sayin' Nothing that had inspired the name of his club at Dingwalls. The roster of Talkin' Loud included Nuyorican Soul (a side project of the producers Masters At Work), Courtney Pine, MJ Cole, Young Disciples, Incognito, Terry Callier, Galliano & Roni Size's project Reprazent. Courtney Pine, Young Disciples, MJ Cole & 4hero all received nominations for the Mercury Music Prize, and in 1997 Reprazent actually won the prize.

Peterson's most recent record label, Brownswood, was launched in 2006. To date the label has released records by British singer/songwriter [[Ben Westbeech], 45 piece live act The Heritage Orchestra, Japanese punk jazz band Soil & "Pimp" Sessions, Brookyln based pianist Elan Mehler, and a soulful compilation series called Brownswood Bubblers.


[edit] Festivals

Peterson makes regular appearances at music festivals across the world including Lovebox in east London, The Big Chill in Hereford and the Southport Weekender [2] in the north west of England. Away from the UK he has appeared at the Exit Festival in Serbia and in 2005 the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

[edit] References

  1. ^ See discussion on Talk page
  2. ^ Southport Weekender website, accessed 28 Sep 2006

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../g/i/l/Gilles_Peterson_80b5.html"