QUOTE OF THE MONTH
“As for the songs you really love, the sounds that really thrill you, those have almost a comically extreme effect on your brain. You get so excited that you light up like a lava lamp”- Michel Faber, from Listen: On Music, Sound and Us
Ain’t that the truth! I mean they have machines that look at your neurotransmitters firing on all cylinders but you don’t need to be wired up to know when music hits that sweet spot. Which is why it’s such a joy to work here. We have Shabaka in today and oh my, I can’t help but think up excuses to linger outside that studio and wait for that extreme effect to hit my brain. But it’s not always all about the music. We had some super spoken word performers up in Studio A….
ALL CHANGE SPOKEN WORD
All Change Arts, based in Islington, ran a project which involved getting older writers who had their work published by the community arts organisation, to record them here. It was heaps of fun, with the participants taking to the mics like seasoned pros, some reciting laugh out loud poems (we particularly liked the one about how going back to someone’s place for coffee has never been about going for coffee) and the writers enjoying the ambiance and our hearty café food.
Writer Lloyd said, “It was a unique experience. We were treated the same as Tom Jones!”
We were particularly moved by Colleen Ogbebor’s poem “Dream for the World,” which included the line, “A world we can all live in peace, enjoying nature unconstrained.” And ended on a mighty chuckle as Winston, in his gravelly voice, mentioned nearly losing his lunch his first time up in the air with a fighter pilot. This lot had more memories than a thousand years. How privileged we were to hear them recorded for posterity.
MAJOR CONGRATS TO NIKKI YEOH!
Our longstanding jazz piano teacher, Nikki Yeoh, who’s been leading courses at the Premises for 26 years now, has been duly and poshly awarded with the Jazz Education Award by the All Parliamentary Jazz Group. In a magnificent speech, starting with, “Hey, Lords,” autodidact Nikki dedicated her award to her late teacher and mentor Ian Carr, who gave Nikki the dual teaching values of freedom of expression and military precision. Her friendly and engaging style works hand in hand with an attention to detail that gets the best out of all her students. Next
Year, Nikki will be running three courses for us, the first of which will be...
JANUARY PIANO REFRESHER COURSE
Post-Christmas food coma, post-January sales, we must ask ourselves what we’re doing in the musical self-improvement stakes, forgetting the whole New Year’s Resolution thing, which we’ll have broken by 2nd of January. For pianists, we have the answer! A new, three-day refresher course from 31st January to 2nd February. Led by Nikki Yeoh with Jason Rebello, Dian Gasper and jazz trumpeter Byron Wallen. Topics covered include comping, soloing, transcription, playing in duos and other topics. Places strictly limited and everyone will have their own keyboard (yes, we’ve invested in six more). Register your interest quickly as this will quickly sell-out. £250 all-in. Email michele@premiseseducation.org to book or to hold your place with a small deposit.
OCTOBER HALF TERM VOICE JAM
Once more, with his characteristic energy and verve, Clive Brown led our Secondary school half term choir in rousing, uplifting versions of Bob Marley’s One Love and Kirk Franklin’s Why We Sing. This time we recruited a trainee peer mentor, Lyan Ricardo Prosser Gama, who set a great example for all our singers who, we must say, acted professionally and courteously and most importantly, sang beautifully. Clive’s special talent for getting the biggest sound out of the choir is to make sure that everyone has a go at singing all parts, with musicians Yomi and Deji, to make 14 voices sound like 100. The final wrap party was a chance for all singers to just jam and freestyle on the mics, and by then even the shy and seemingly quiet ones were giving it loads. Feedback was really positive, with many students asking for more songs next time, which will be in the February half term. Watch this space!
FUNDRAISER FOR CLIVE BROWN AND URBAN SOUND
Our Voice Jam choirmaster Clive Brown has his own brilliant gospel choir, Urban Sound who perform widely and are all set to record an album. To this end we’re helping them raise the money via a GoFundMe campaign. Clive has been a major player on the gospel circuit and we’d love to help him and the choir realise their dream. Here’s what they say: “With the powerful and diverse voices of our 30-member choir, we create music that uplifts, empowers, and inspires everyone who hears it.” Having been blown away by their live gigs, we say amen to that! Please give what you can to get their music out there and please share the link.
NEIL’S LATEST PRODUCTION
Our chief recording engineer and producer Neil Goody, has produced a different kind of miracle – new baby Dorian. Neil’s part was a small one so far, according to new mum Agne but rest assured, Neil is going to be a brilliant hands-on super Dad! Welcome to the world little Dorian and huge congratulations, Mum and Dad.
DEC/JAN STUDIO LET?
If you need a great writer/producer studio for two months, producer Hannah V is offering to sub-let her fully equipped studio tucked away in a quiet corner of the Premises. Her studio has a separate vocal room, air-con, daylight and high-speed broadband. Set up is a simple‚ ‘plug and play‘ system - the entire studio can be connected to your Laptop with a single thunderbolt cable. £800pm all included. Reputable and responsible writer/producers only. For full spec etc contact: hannahvasanth@me.com
WHO’S BEEN IN?
Amongst other luminaries, last month we welcomed... The Divine Comedy, Matilda Mann, Nicky Rubin, Malibu Hot Flush, Carroll Thompson, London Voice Academy, Age of Consent, CSX Pistols, ARXX, Ollie Hutchinson, Louis Dunford, Folded Wing, Dora Limfer, Heuristics, Bedlam, Boy Bleach, Trinity Laban, Gwyn Jay Allen, Fossils, Emma Rawicz, Bree Runway, Wigglers, Drum Dog, Bleach, Jenny Manby, Gilad, Deborah Charles, Matt Hawkins, Spearmint, Zofia Reeves, Business As Usual, Bernard Purdie (see pic!), Age of Consent, Kelly Lee Owens, World of Sonics, Maverick Sabre, Treyja, The Cover Up, Vula Malinga, Daley, Alison Grant, The Puppini Sisters, Chris the Jungle Drummer, Attawalpa, Nectar Wood, Barry Can’t Swim, Naked Brunch, Berlioz, Gavin Bryars, Pulp, The Bristows Band, Child and the Banned, Rachel Chinouriri, Nubya Garcia, Irene Taylor Trust, Explore Ensemble, Deyyess, Ruben Smith, Alfie Whitbread, PP Arnold, Carolyn Rose, Dolores Forever, Sad Night Dynamite, Everyone Says Hi, Levitation Orchestra, The Waeve, Olivia Morgan, Mireille, Mulatu Astake, Brandon Nembhard, Lazlo Barclay, Laura Marling, Nicky Rubin, Marti Perramon, Cusk, The Weil’d Things, Tomorrow’s Warriors, Joe Culpepper, Common Ideal, Shivanova, Lauren Mayberry, Lava La Rue, Jocelyn Brown, Shabaka Hutchings, Cian Downing, Ian Shaw, Charlotte Plank, and many more (phew, what a month!)
ROUND MIDNIGHT – MARK KAVUMA SESSION
Band leader, label boss and ace trumpeter Mark Kavuma recorded a blistering session here in Studio A last month. Hear it in full on Soweto Kinch’s brilliant nightly series Round Midnight, here
