A Life In Music: Sam Slater

Old head, young shoulders...

I set myself a rule when working up ideas for the Lives in Music podcast series. Nobody under 50, please, otherwise the experiences and perspectives I hoped to glean might not be juicy enough.

Then, I promptly broke my rule for Sam Slater.

Sam is the youngest person featured in this series of Lives in Music, but he's packed an awful lot into his (relatively) tender years. I've known him for ages, since he first emerged in a lovely guitar trio, Trio Gitano, one of whose members, Sophia Johnson, is now earning rave reviews playing country and bluegrass in Austin Texas.

Sam moved on into Jazz and World music to great effect. A dab hand on guitar and other stringed instruments like the Oud, Sam has a bewildering range of activities, not counting his Jazz Label Stoney Lane, which documents some of the finest players in the West Midlands region of the UK. 

John broke out both guitar and oud to illustrate a couple of points. It was a sheer delight to listen. The podcast is here, to download or stream, or you can simply head to the player at the bottom of this page. 

Links

Stoney Lane Records
TG Collective
Paco De Lucia
The Oud

Lives in Music

The Lives in Music series celebrates people who have spent a lifetime in music. They may be famous; they may be people who have spent their lives working in the background for the love of it. They all have stories.

The theme music for this series is by Big Q Fish. 'Boksburg Jive Toon' was written by Brian Neil, and recorded at the Jam House, Birmingham, in 2017.


Don't forget to subscribe!

The Podcast

Also published in Lives In Music  

all with show notes and music links 

1 - Ruby Turner 
2 -  Steve Ajao
3 - The Men Who Make Mellotrons
4 - Mike Hatton
5 - Horace Panter
6 - Jasper Carott 
8 - John Patrick
9 - Gordon Giltrap
10 - Jim Simpson

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Urban Folk Quartet: what happens when a key member leaves? The classic problem.

How can Urban Folk Quartet handle Frank Moon's departure? Time for radical thinking.

       Joe, Paloma and Tom are staying....    Frank's going....    and Dan's coming  

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Up to now, this included fabulous oud and guitar playing from Frank Moon. But Frank's skills and career are taking him to all sorts of new places. So, regretfully, he is moving on, leaving UFQ with a huge hole to fill. The big question was: how do you replace someone like Frank Moon, who has been so integral to the band?  How do you transition?

Joe Broughton (fiddle, expansive personality) and Tom Chapman (cajon, percussion, clever stuff with triangles) spent time with me this month going though their options.