September 26, 2025 • 28 mins
In this episode, Geoff catches up with the wonderful trumpet player and educator Martin Shaw.
Born into a household where music constantly filled the air—his mother a classical pianist, his father a jazz improviser—Martin's story reveals how these dual influences created the perfect foundation for his development.
Martin shares the pivotal moment when, as a schoolboy faced with the choice between heading to the tuck shop or trying brass instruments, he chose the latter and discovered his lifelong relationship with the trumpet. This seemingly small decision would launch a career that included six years with Jamiroquai, performances at Woodstock '99 before 130,000 people, and collaborations with legendary figures in the jazz world.
What makes this conversation particularly valuable is Martin's articulation of his approach to improvisation. Unlike many jazz musicians who rely heavily on memorised patterns, his style developed primarily through deep listening to piano players like Oscar Peterson and Chick Corea—giving his trumpet playing a distinctive harmonic richness. His innovative teaching method of "minim jazz"—where students improvise using only half notes to focus solely on harmonic choices—offers a fascinating glimpse into his pedagogical philosophy.
From discussing and improvising on his favourite jazz standard ‘My Romance’ (accompanied by the Quartet app), to sharing candid reflections on his professional journey, Martin provides listeners with both practical insights and inspirational takeaways.
Listen now to gain valuable perspective from a musician whose journey spans classical training, worldwide performances, and becoming a professor of jazz trumpet at prestigious institutions including the Royal College of Music, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and The Purcell School.
Whether you're a trumpet player, jazz enthusiast, or simply curious about the development of musical identity, this episode offers a thoughtful exploration of how family influence, education, and personal discovery shape an artist's voice.
Presenter: Geoff Gascoyne
Series Producer: Paul Sissons
Production Manager: Martin Sissons
The Quartet Jazz Standards Podcast is a UK Music Apps production.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Geoff (00:01):
Hello, podcasts.
Hope you're doing well today.
I'm going today to see a greatfriend of mine.
His name is Martin Shaw.
He's a fantastic trumpetplayer.
And he also plays piano.
He's done loads and loads ofgreat things.
He played with Jamiroquai, JohnDankworth, and uh BBC Big Band,
loads of great things likethat.
So we're gonna talk a littlebit about uh jazz standards.
(00:26):
I know what his favoritestandard is already, but I'm not
gonna say, I'm gonna let himtell you because he calls it on
every gig that we do together.
Um so we're playing gig tonighttogether, so I thought I'd
catch up with him before theconcert, and um here comes the
interview.
Announcement (00:57):
The Quartet Jazz Standards podcast is brought to
you by the Quartet app for iOS,taking your jazz play along to
another level.
Martin (01:06):
It's like being on the radio.
Geoff (01:09):
Hi Martin.
Martin (01:10):
Hi, Geoff.
How's it going?
How are you today?
I'm very well, thank you verymuch.
Geoff (01:14):
Do you want to tell everyone a little bit about
yourself?
Martin (01:17):
So I grew up into a family of musicians.
Both my parents were greatpiano players.
Mom was uh classically trained,couldn't really improvise, but
was a really great reader.
And my dad was the opposite.
He was a jazz player, couldread chords, but couldn't really
read music as such.
Wow, okay.
So I kind of got the best ofboth worlds.
(01:38):
So you started on the piano,did you?
I did, yeah.
I started on piano when I wasuh nine, and then a couple of
years later I took up trumpet atschool basically.
Geoff (01:47):
So you started with classical piano?
Martin (01:49):
Uh yes, I did actually, yeah.
But it was a mixture because mydad used to show me a couple of
nice tasty chords.
Geoff (01:55):
So you started jazz really young then?
Martin (01:57):
I did basically, yeah.
I was improvising by the time Iwas twelve, and my brother is a
great piano player too, and heused to kind of play me the the
more modern stuff, like HerbieHancock Chick Corea, Bill Evans
type stuff.
And my dad always had uh OscarPeterson, Art Tatum, Fats
Waller, all those kind ofplayers.
Geoff (02:15):
So they were your first influences, the piano players.
Absolutely, yeah, withoutquestion.
So when did you discover thetrumpet then?
Martin (02:21):
Well I started at eleven, it was one of those mad
decisions at school.
They asked uh in assembly inthe morning whether anyone that
could already read music fanciedplaying a brass instrument.
So uh I remember it to thisday.
I came to the corridor at uhbreak time, and uh you could
(02:42):
either go left to the tuck shop,which I normally did, or right
to this room where they said togo to try some instruments out.
Right.
And I stopped in my tracks andI thought, well, shall I go and
get my crisps and chocolate orshall I go and have a have a you
know have a look and check outwhat's going on with these
instruments?
And I, I did, I decided to gogo for the the brass room.
(03:02):
Fantastic, yeah.
And then they gave me uh aFrench horn, which I just felt a
bit heavy and awkward for mepersonally.
They gave me a trombone Icouldn't really feel it at all
or reach, you know, and it justdidn't feel right.
Yeah.
But then they gave me a trumpetand I just I put it to my face
and I played like a really nicemiddle G.
And they just said, Oh well,there you are, then that's it.
(03:23):
Yeah, I just had regular uhperi lessons at school.
But I'd I started with um a afriend of mine, but within a few
months I'd sort of, you know,uh steamed ahead because uh
well, because of my backgroundand the fact that I played piano
already, so I ended up havingone-to-one lessons with the
peripatetic teacher, StephenReed, his name was.
(03:44):
He was a French horn player,but lovely man.
And so he set me set me going.
I mean, I when I say classical,I did um study the classical
route, but all the time my dadwas getting me to improvise and
he played piano for me at home,for instance.
He'd teach me the old tuneslike Sweet Georgia Brown and
(04:05):
Avalon, those kind of things.
Geoff (04:07):
So you didn't you didn't think about being a prof um a
professional piano player atall?
Martin (04:11):
Well, to be honest, uh up until about the age of 15, I
guess, uh I wasn't sure whichway I'd go.
I I practiced piano hard when Iwas a kid.
And you still play piano, don'tyou?
I still play piano, yeah.
I don't really play gigsprofessionally as such, but I do
play a lot for my students, forinstance.
And I play at home a fair bitas well.
Geoff (04:31):
So did you start um playing in big bands quite early
on too?
Martin (04:35):
Yeah, um, because a lot of my contemporaries started in
the brass band uh tradition, butwith me, luckily, I'm from a uh
town called Walsall nearBirmingham.
Right, as I'm sure you'vesussed already.
And um there was a great bandcalled the Walsall Youth Jazz
Orchestra, run by a guy calledJohn Hughes, fabulous guy.
(04:56):
A real sort of uh well he hejust led the band with such a
plomb, you know, and he was sokeen and he got some great
charts in, and the standard wasreally good.
Right.
So I joined that, I think I wasliterally 13, a couple of years
in.
And um I was playing next to uha great jazz trumpet player who
lives up north now calledRichard Isles.
(05:18):
That's the first time I'd everheard you know a proper jazz
trumpet player in the flesh.
And uh, you know, the the leadplayer was a girl called Kay
Henderson who was absolutelyfabulous.
That's where I met JulianArgüelles, and we had a little
quintet together, it was aspin-off of the big band.
Geoff (05:33):
Okay.
Martin (05:33):
So I was doing a lot of jazz from early on.
Right.
And like I said before, thatwas all basically what um uh my
story goes, if at home this is,if mum or dad weren't
practicing, because they theyused to practice hard, you know.
But basically, if if theyweren't practicing the piano,
then there would be jazz on.
Geoff (05:52):
Were you into transcribing and writing stuff
down, or how did you how did youlearn to improvise?
Martin (05:57):
I did transcribe, but I didn't really write it down.
I used to just learn.
Geoff (06:02):
Okay.
Uh just probably a better wayto do it, I guess.
Martin (06:04):
Well I found it more natural when I was young for
sure.
But I was very lucky because mydad, once he'd sort of realised
that he thought I was gonna bea player, he knew that it would
be really handy to have good uhoral facility.
So he used to give me littlesort of oral tests before school
every morning.
Geoff (06:24):
Whoa.
Martin (06:24):
But he made it fun, it was like a game.
Right.
He'd get me to guess notes andthen guess intervals.
Yeah.
And in fact, to this day Iactually teach using that that
method as well.
So I think it's really handy.
Geoff (06:36):
Nice.
Useful to be able to do, youknow.
Right.
So you'll, you'll play aninterval and you have to guess
which what the interval is.
Martin (06:42):
Yeah, uh first of all, I play it and get them to uh to
play the bottom note, then thetop note, and then let me know
the interval, tell them thenotes, you know.
Geoff (06:50):
Because I know people learn intervals by you know
tunes, don't they?
Maria.
Indeed, yeah, that's true,yeah.
Martin (06:56):
That's good as well.
I mean it's all valid as longas you get to know the sound of
it, and eventually you justrecognise it.
So so then when did you come toLondon then?
What what was what happenednext?
I came to London in 1985.
I got into the Royal Academy.
Geoff (07:09):
Oh.
Martin (07:10):
So I went there for three years, which was great.
And luckily the first year Iwas there uh was the first year
that they started introducingsome kind of jazz tuition as
well.
Right.
It was Graham Collier,actually.
I remember.
It wasn't a uh a jazz course assuch, but there was a big band,
which was nice, and a couple oflittle jazz history lessons
(07:31):
here and there.
And because of that, I think Soyou were doing the straight
course or the or the Yeah, I wasdoing the straight course,
yeah, literally, a three-yeardegree in in uh in music.
Okay.
But also, just quickly, I Imanaged to wangle second study
jazz trumpet lessons with HenryLowther.
Oh, nice.
Which was amazing, reallylovely, lovely man, you know.
Yeah, he was my mentor for it.
(07:51):
It's amazing, isn't he?
I actually went to Berkeley fora five-week summer school
between the academy uh and theGuild hall, actually.
So I did the postgrad jazz andstudio music, I think it was
called at the Guild hall.
So yeah, I did four full yearsplus a little bit.
Geoff (08:09):
And how was your Berkeley experience?
How did you...
Martin (08:11):
oh it was good fun?
I mean th they actually uh puta lot of emphasis on oral
ability, they used the the, thesolfège scale method, which they
taught me.
I, I hadn't done it before, soI found that quite taxing
actually.
But it was great, really goodfun.
And I had lessons with uh a guycalled Lou Mucci, who used to
(08:31):
be in Dizzy Gillespie's band.
Wow, wonderful.
And then there was a guy calledWayne Nauss who did uh Buddy
Rich's big band and all thatkind of stuff.
But yeah, it was great fun,great experience.
Geoff (08:41):
Fantastic.
Would you say you use licks,you know, as part of your
playing, or do you not thinkabout that?
Martin (08:46):
I certainly have uh a few licks which I use which have
become part of my vocabulary.
But quite honestly, I neverreally practiced licks uh as a
kid.
I kind of relied on justlistening because I really did
listen so much to lots of reallytop quality jazz, and I think
that's super important.
And also it was m it was mainlypiano players for a good few
(09:08):
years.
Oh, right, interesting.
So the licks didn't reallytranslate as such, but obviously
when you're listening to allthose people I mentioned before,
especially Oscar, I mean, time,I think I learnt a lot about
jazz time from Oscar.
I mean it's flawless, I think.
Beautiful.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And then Chick, say Chick Coreais a very percussive player,
but lovely lines as well.
So yeah, I I think it went in.
(09:30):
But then one oh I guess I wasabout fourteen, and my dad used
to have this residency, and thisnew guitarist joined the band.
And when he found out I was atrumpet player, bless him, he
made up a little cassette tapeshowing my age there uh of
Clifford Brown.
Right.
He basically said to my dad,Oh, if he's a trumpet player,
(09:50):
he's got to listen to CliffordBrown.
Yeah.
And that was it, really.
That was uh my starting point.
Geoff (09:56):
And you you teach, you've done a lot more teaching of
late, haven't you?
Because uh I know you'verecently been teaching at the
Purcell School, haven't you?
Martin (10:02):
That's right, yes.
I mean I've taught I've been onthe books at the um Royal
College actually for many, manyyears.
I taught at the BirminghamConservatoire for quite a few
years.
Right.
Do you enjoy teaching?
I do actually, yeah, I do enjoyit.
And as you rightly say, lastyear I started uh at the Purcell
School of Music.
Mm-hmm.
Uh especially like secondaryschool, you know.
Geoff (10:24):
I imagine that standard is pretty high there, isn't it?
Martin (10:26):
It really is, actually.
I was I was quite surprised,shocked even, in a nice way, you
know.
Geoff (10:31):
When you've got really advanced students, do you ever
find it a a challenge to findthings to do with them?
Martin (10:36):
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, especially with children,but most of us I think you'll
agree.
The it w when you get to a wellwhen you've been doing it for
30 odd years, yeah, you get thissort of uh experience behind
you.
And there's just certain thingsyou find out only by doing it
for that long.
Yeah.
Certain the way you phrasecertain things, you know, and
(10:57):
your sound and way ofapproaching playing, I think,
just gets much more mature asyou get older.
But you can't you just can'tplay like that when you're when
you're a kid.
Yeah.
And you know, uh kids all quiteoften play too many notes when
you know they could have said avery similar thing with with
with fewer, just little thingslike that, I think.
Geoff (11:19):
So another thing I wanted to ask you about is playing in
big bands.
Do you like playing in asection?
Martin (11:24):
I do, I love it, absolutely.
But I always tend to playfourth trumpet now, which is
kind of the jazz chair thesedays.
I'm basically booked because Ican improvise.
I certainly wouldn't ever siton lead because it's a bit scary
and I can't really do it verywell.
I'm sure you could.
Well, actually, no, honestly,Geoff, I really couldn't, but uh
nice of you to think I might beable to.
No, it's it's a range and andstyle.
(11:44):
Well, not even style.
Obviously, I could hearstylistically how it would need
to go, but range wise, I'm justI haven't got the setup for that
kind of playing at all.
So playing fourth trumpet, thatmeans you're following the
leader, right?
Exactly.
That's what I was gonna say,yeah.
So really you in an ideal worldyou listen hard to your lead
trumpet player and you try andphrase like he does or she does,
(12:04):
you know.
For instance, I'll do the BBCBig Band, which is always a
fabulous band.
Yeah.
And uh someone like Mike Lovettsprings to mind because he
plays lead with the band and hephrases so beautifully and he
kind of he he sits back on thebeat, which I kind of do
naturally, so I find it veryeasy to phrase with someone like
Mike.
But if a uh a a different kindof player that maybe plays
(12:28):
towards the top, top end of thebeat comes in, then I just
adjust.
Uh but you you find uh over theyears you just learn to do that
naturally, yeah.
Geoff (12:37):
Yeah.
So let's talk about jazzstandards.
I think I know the answer tothis question, but uh do you
have a favourite jazz standard?
Martin (12:52):
I do actually, Geoff.
And I'm telling you, well,you've played it with me for
about uh a thousand times bynow, I think.
It's actually.
My Romance, okay.
And I'll tell you for why.
It came from uh I'm a huge fanof Bob Mintzer.
I just love the way he phrasesand improvises.
He's just a fabulous musicianand writer.
And I've got most of his bigband albums.
(13:13):
Okay.
He's a great, great arranger aswell, isn't he?
Oh, absolutely, yeah,beautiful.
I love the way voices for hornsand just amazing musician.
Yeah.
And his work with the YellowJackets, of course.
But uh it's just a one-off uhwell, almost like a throwaway
track.
I believe it's on Spectrum, butI'm not hundred percent sure.
But it's on one of the lateeighties big big band albums,
(13:37):
but it but he plays a quartetversion of My Romance, right?
And it was just so lovely.
It's one of those tracks youlisten to and just put it on
repeat and listen about five orsix times.
Was that the first version youknew of that tune?
Yeah, it was actually.
Yeah, I hadn't played itbefore.
But this is years and yearsago.
Right.
Like uh probably earlynineties, I guess.
Yeah.
But it just it just struck meso hard, you know, it struck a
(13:59):
chord with me.
Yeah, and I just loved it.
I just listened over and overagain, and within you know, five
or six times I'd I'd got themelody, and I just played it
from from then on and eversince.
Geoff (14:10):
My Romance is actually in Quartet Volume One.
So Quartet One contains all theessentials.
You own this one, right?
Martin (14:16):
Yeah, I do actually, yeah.
I must admit, Geoff, I've I'vebeen using them uh uh a lot at
the Purcell School.
They're a great vehicle toteach.
That's a good thing.
Geoff (14:24):
That's a good thing, yeah.
Uh Rogers and Hart, isn't it?
Um, that's right, yes, right.
Rogers and Hart.
Yeah.
I say to students, learn allthose ones first.
The first hundred and fifty arethe essentials, you know, All
The Things You Are and Stella ByStarlight and Blues, Rhythmn
Changes, and all those things.
Makes good sense.
Have you found that you've usedany particular other tunes from
from this?
Well, perhaps?
Martin (14:43):
To be honest, I I quite often leave it to the students
to tell me what they want tolearn.
But I've I mean I've beenthrough, you know, I've used
Autumn Leaves, I've used uh AllThe Things You Are.
Yeah.
I've I used um All Blues for afew weeks.
Uh, I used Emily the other day,actually.
Nice.
Which is a lovely tune.
But uh yeah, that was I meanit's always handy.
(15:05):
And one thing I love about it,I must admit, is how versatile
it is.
Yeah.
The fact that you can changekey, yeah, you know, easily.
Yeah.
You can um uh add a sax playerso they can at least listen to
how a pro would, you know,approach the sequence.
Yeah, oh good.
And you can change the time aswell, which is a really good
thing.
Geoff (15:23):
Yeah.
Do you want to get your hornout and then we'll give you a
minute to warm up and then um Iknow trumpet is a particularly
tiring instrument.
But do you have specific thingsfor for warming up?
Martin (15:32):
Um I do.
I must admit I warmed up uhthis afternoon with in fact I
taught today as well.
I had a student come round atmidday for a couple of hours.
So I, I warmed up at abouteleven o'clock.
Geoff (15:42):
Okay.
And again, it varies on So youjust have to do that once a day
and then you're okay, you'reokay for the rest of the day.
Martin (15:47):
Basically, yes, that's right, yeah.
Geoff (15:49):
That's handy.
Martin (15:49):
But that always uh always kind of bemuses me as
well, really.
Because you can literally warmup in the morning and then play
a little and then leave it forlike seven hours, eight hours,
and it's still there.
Fresh for for the gigin the evening.
Oh, I wish it did, you know.
I still don't know the answerto that.
Geoff (16:07):
So you warm up at midnight, then you surely be
ready for breakfast.
Martin (16:10):
Well, you know what?
It's it's a lovely idea, but itjust doesn't for some reason it
doesn't work like that.
Wow, wow.
No, and again, you know, we'reall different.
I think all trumpet playershave different ways of warming
up.
Some guys, particularly whenthey're busy, uh, hardly need to
warm up at all.
I've noticed that the lead guystend to somehow warm up a bit
(16:30):
less.
But again, a lot of it might bepsychological.
I've always felt the need tocover the whole range of the
instrument for 10 or 15 minutes,really, a week.
Well, personally, I mean I Ijust do that, I think it's a
Herbert Clark exercise.
Etc.
(17:00):
etc.
Geoff (17:01):
Nice bit of chromatics there, yeah.
Yeah.
So that's colorful.
That does it for me.
Lots of fingering also.
Martin (17:06):
Yeah, it keeps your fingers going and it gently gets
your chops working as well.
I do find you know, if they'reparticularly bruised from the
day before, I might warm up onflugelhorn instead of trumpet.
Uh again, that's noteverybody's thing.
Geoff (17:19):
Is it true that flugel horn is slightly easier to play
than the trumpet?
Martin (17:22):
I wouldn't say easier, just different, really.
I, I find it gentler.
To be honest, theoretically, itshould be harder because the
mouthpiece is deeper, so youhaven't got that kind of back
pressure going on like you haveon trumpets.
But I've always found it uh tobe advantageous to have a deep
mouthpiece because when youarticulate, you've got more
(17:43):
room, you know, you canarticulate uh in a stronger way.
Geoff (17:48):
Here we go.
How was that?
(19:56):
How did that feel?
Martin (19:57):
That felt nice, actually, yeah, yeah.
I mean uh I've worked a lot withthe guys, as you well know
anyway, but I mean that'sbasically my choice rhythm
section to be honest.
Geoff (20:06):
Stepping into a warm bath, is it?
Basically, yeah.
Martin (20:09):
It's fabulous, you know.
I love the way you all uhswing.
Seb, obviously beautiful, andGraham, fabulous voicings.
Geoff (20:17):
So what were you thinking about when you were playing?
Martin (20:19):
Harmony has always been my my kind of first love in
terms of music theory, if youlike.
I guess I'm just listening tothe the way the sequence moves
from chord to chord.
I I have played this tune anawful lot, so I know it very
well.
Whilst I I do try and listen tothe rhythm section while I'm
playing, I'm trying to find nicemelodies to weave uh through
(20:43):
the sequence.
Yeah.
I'm always thinking forwards ina kind of horizontal way.
Yeah.
Geoff (20:48):
But there's a lot of chords in this.
Now, are you thinking eachchord or are you thinking across
many chords?
Martin (20:53):
With a tune like this.
I certainly don't really thinkof every every chord
individually.
I think through the sequence.
I I read or s or hear thesequence as a whole.
But I'm thinking at least twoor three chords ahead.
When I teach, actually, I makea point of getting my students
to really know their guidetones.
The third and the seventh, Ireally do think it's nice to at
(21:17):
least be able to land on them.
Or it it's really important touh when the harmony changes, to
land on a nice note that spellsthe chord out.
Geoff (21:25):
That's a really good point.
Martin (21:26):
Yeah, and you don't have to play that way, but it's nice
to be able to do it.
Yeah.
Geoff (21:30):
So you you were talking about licks early on, you know,
you've got your trumpet in yourhand.
Martin (21:34):
So if I'm going from say D minor to G7 to C major, this
is one of the you know the fewactual licks I do use, but I
know this is one of them.
Go on then.
Yeah, nice, yeah.
Because I I've I've always beena fan of the altered scale and
(21:54):
the diminished scale.
Yeah.
So really, I mean the the theway up is just so I'm going
third, fifth, seven, nine,eleven.
Yeah.
But then on the way down, justturning it into a diminished
lick.
Yeah.
Do you know that's one of a fewwhich I like.
(22:15):
I mean I I I teach a few licks,but I'd yeah I shy away from uh
just getting my students to dolots of licks in all different
keys.
I'd rather they work more onthe natural ability to
improvise.
But just I do get them to um toplay in time with a sequence,
(22:37):
but only use, for instance, thethe thirds or the fifths, or
play just minim jazz, I call it.
So you're improvising justusing minims and thinking about
the graduation of the uh thechord you're on, you know, all
that kind of stuff.
Geoff (22:51):
Could you demonstrate that?
Give us some minim jazz.
I'll go straight in on achorus.
Here we go.
unknown (22:55):
Okay.
Martin (23:24):
And then what I do is start to um use different
rhythms.
I might do triplets across itthen.
Okay.
Maybe minim triplets and thencrotchets and then crotchet
triplets.
J uh in my uh opinion, it'sgood because it takes away one
of the things you have to thinkabout when you're improvising.
So that the the rhythm is agiven.
(23:44):
So you concentrate and focus alittle more on just the melody.
Geoff (23:50):
Amazing.
Yeah, I love that.
Yeah.
Just to finish, I've got acouple of quick fire questions.
Your favourite album?
Martin (23:58):
It's difficult to say one, but well, the first one
that springs to mind is ThreeQuartets, Chick Corea.
Oh, good question.
I absolutely love that album.
Geoff (24:05):
Fantastic.
That's Michael Brecker, isn'tit?
That's right.
Yeah, um, yeah, fantastic.
Beautiful.
Favourite musician alive ordead, you like to play with?
Martin (24:13):
I, I always wanted to play with Chick, actually, Chick
Corea.
Okay.
What I do love is his uh duostuff with Herbie, first of all,
and uh Gary Burton.
Okay.
I love those albums.
Yeah, so much interplay, youknow, it's beautiful.
Geoff (24:26):
Highlight of your career?
Any any memorable gigs.
Martin (24:29):
I must admit, um I did I, I played for Jamiroquai in
the 90s, and we did a few nicebig gigs with those guys.
We actually played at Woodstockin the late 90s, and we
followed James Brown on stage,and there are about 120, 130,000
people in the audience.
That one really stands out, Imust admit.
And the funniest thing aboutthat is the following day we
(24:52):
flew home and I played theBull's Head with a little funk
band to about ten people, feetright firmly back on the floor.
Geoff (25:00):
That's amazing.
Yeah, I I came to see you playwith Jamiroquai at Wembley
Arena, yeah.
You may have even put me on thedoor.
Did you get to blow much inthat band?
Martin (25:07):
Yeah, we did actually.
Yeah, he was quite free withthe solos.
That was good.
Geoff (25:11):
What a great gig to do.
How long did you do that for?
Martin (25:13):
I did it for six years, between ninety-four and two
thousand.
Fantastic, yeah.
Yeah, it was good fun.
Geoff (25:19):
What's the last concert you went to?
Martin (25:21):
I must admit I hardly ever go and see music.
I've seen Take Six a couple oftimes because I was so blown
away with them.
Yeah.
And I saw Brecker a couple oftimes.
Uh and I also saw Chick andGary Burton.
But I think for me personally,especially a few years back when
I was very busy, I just, youknow, a a night off was a night
off I wouldn't have thought togo and see.
(25:42):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You know what it's like.
Geoff (25:44):
Um what would you say was your musical weakness?
Martin (25:47):
I suppose playing over changes like um Coltrane
changes.
Hard changes, yeah.
I find it really difficult,actually.
Yeah.
I have to really work at that.
Geoff (26:00):
Do you ever get nervous on stage or when was the last
time you got nervous?
Martin (26:03):
I do get nervous, you know.
I get nervous because I'm notas match fit chops wise as I was
when I was busy.
It was really pre-COVID, Ithink.
COVID did um change myprofessional work a fair bit.
Yeah.
And I'll be honest with you, Ihad a few months off because I
just thought it would be a nicechange.
It was literally I had threemonths off playing.
(26:23):
Really?
Which is the first time since Iwas eleven years old.
And uh you know, it wasinteresting.
I obviously I missed it in theend, and it's great to be back.
But uh it was interesting.
Geoff (26:34):
Okay.
A few silly questions just tofinish off.
Your favourite sandwich?
Martin (26:38):
Favourite sandwich is tuna and sweet corn.
Geoff (26:43):
Have you got a favourite movie?
Martin (26:45):
Favourite movie has to be the Shawshank Redemption.
Geoff (26:48):
Oh, that's a good choice.
Favourite venue that you playedin?
Martin (26:52):
Oh, um I used to really like the Pizza on the Park.
How was it?
That was a really good room andthe piano was fantastic.
Yeah, yeah, that's a good one.
Geoff (27:00):
And your favourite country or city?
Martin (27:02):
Oh, um Vancouver.
Oh I went to Vancouver once.
We started a tour of uh Canadaand America with Jamiraquai and
then.
Geoff (27:10):
Very European, isn't it?
That that's that's it.
Martin (27:12):
And it just really struck me.
I remember thinking it's one ofthe few cities I could imagine
living in, right.
Apart from London, you know.
Geoff (27:19):
Excellent.
And finally, your favouritechord?
Martin (27:21):
My favourite chord to play on.
Well, it's it's gotta bealtered scale or altered chord.
Yeah.
There's no particular key, Isuppose.
E for me.
Yeah.
So D, D7 altered.
D seven altered.
Geoff (27:32):
Excellent choice.
Right.
So, Martin, thank you so muchfor for doing it.
It's a pleasure.
It was really informative andand I really enjoyed it.
And hopefully we'll get peoplewill get a lot from that.
So thank you very much.
Martin (27:43):
Pleasure.
Geoff (27:43):
All right, and see you soon.
Cheers.
Announcement (27:45):
Thank you for making it to the end of another
podcast.
Please subscribe if you want tohear more of them as they land.
The Quartet Jazz StandardsPodcast is a UK Music Apps
production.
Quartet for iOS, taking yourjazz play along to another
level.
Search for Quartet on the AppStore or find out more at
quartetapp.com.
Hello, podcasts.
Hope you're doing well today.
I'm going today to see a greatfriend of mine.
His name is Martin Shaw.
He's a fantastic trumpetplayer.
And he also plays piano.
He's done loads and loads ofgreat things.
He played with Jamiroquai, JohnDankworth, and uh BBC Big Band,
loads of great things likethat.
So we're gonna talk a littlebit about uh jazz standards.
(00:26):
I know what his favoritestandard is already, but I'm not
gonna say, I'm gonna let himtell you because he calls it on
every gig that we do together.
Um so we're playing gig tonighttogether, so I thought I'd
catch up with him before theconcert, and um here comes the
interview.
Announcement (00:57):
The Quartet Jazz Standards podcast is brought to
you by the Quartet app for iOS,taking your jazz play along to
another level.
Martin (01:06):
It's like being on the radio.
Geoff (01:09):
Hi Martin.
Martin (01:10):
Hi, Geoff.
How's it going?
How are you today?
I'm very well, thank you verymuch.
Geoff (01:14):
Do you want to tell everyone a little bit about
yourself?
Martin (01:17):
So I grew up into a family of musicians.
Both my parents were greatpiano players.
Mom was uh classically trained,couldn't really improvise, but
was a really great reader.
And my dad was the opposite.
He was a jazz player, couldread chords, but couldn't really
read music as such.
Wow, okay.
So I kind of got the best ofboth worlds.
(01:38):
So you started on the piano,did you?
I did, yeah.
I started on piano when I wasuh nine, and then a couple of
years later I took up trumpet atschool basically.
Geoff (01:47):
So you started with classical piano?
Martin (01:49):
Uh yes, I did actually, yeah.
But it was a mixture because mydad used to show me a couple of
nice tasty chords.
Geoff (01:55):
So you started jazz really young then?
Martin (01:57):
I did basically, yeah.
I was improvising by the time Iwas twelve, and my brother is a
great piano player too, and heused to kind of play me the the
more modern stuff, like HerbieHancock Chick Corea, Bill Evans
type stuff.
And my dad always had uh OscarPeterson, Art Tatum, Fats
Waller, all those kind ofplayers.
Geoff (02:15):
So they were your first influences, the piano players.
Absolutely, yeah, withoutquestion.
So when did you discover thetrumpet then?
Martin (02:21):
Well I started at eleven, it was one of those mad
decisions at school.
They asked uh in assembly inthe morning whether anyone that
could already read music fanciedplaying a brass instrument.
So uh I remember it to thisday.
I came to the corridor at uhbreak time, and uh you could
(02:42):
either go left to the tuck shop,which I normally did, or right
to this room where they said togo to try some instruments out.
Right.
And I stopped in my tracks andI thought, well, shall I go and
get my crisps and chocolate orshall I go and have a have a you
know have a look and check outwhat's going on with these
instruments?
And I, I did, I decided to gogo for the the brass room.
(03:02):
Fantastic, yeah.
And then they gave me uh aFrench horn, which I just felt a
bit heavy and awkward for mepersonally.
They gave me a trombone Icouldn't really feel it at all
or reach, you know, and it justdidn't feel right.
Yeah.
But then they gave me a trumpetand I just I put it to my face
and I played like a really nicemiddle G.
And they just said, Oh well,there you are, then that's it.
(03:23):
Yeah, I just had regular uhperi lessons at school.
But I'd I started with um a afriend of mine, but within a few
months I'd sort of, you know,uh steamed ahead because uh
well, because of my backgroundand the fact that I played piano
already, so I ended up havingone-to-one lessons with the
peripatetic teacher, StephenReed, his name was.
(03:44):
He was a French horn player,but lovely man.
And so he set me set me going.
I mean, I when I say classical,I did um study the classical
route, but all the time my dadwas getting me to improvise and
he played piano for me at home,for instance.
He'd teach me the old tuneslike Sweet Georgia Brown and
(04:05):
Avalon, those kind of things.
Geoff (04:07):
So you didn't you didn't think about being a prof um a
professional piano player atall?
Martin (04:11):
Well, to be honest, uh up until about the age of 15, I
guess, uh I wasn't sure whichway I'd go.
I I practiced piano hard when Iwas a kid.
And you still play piano, don'tyou?
I still play piano, yeah.
I don't really play gigsprofessionally as such, but I do
play a lot for my students, forinstance.
And I play at home a fair bitas well.
Geoff (04:31):
So did you start um playing in big bands quite early
on too?
Martin (04:35):
Yeah, um, because a lot of my contemporaries started in
the brass band uh tradition, butwith me, luckily, I'm from a uh
town called Walsall nearBirmingham.
Right, as I'm sure you'vesussed already.
And um there was a great bandcalled the Walsall Youth Jazz
Orchestra, run by a guy calledJohn Hughes, fabulous guy.
(04:56):
A real sort of uh well he hejust led the band with such a
plomb, you know, and he was sokeen and he got some great
charts in, and the standard wasreally good.
Right.
So I joined that, I think I wasliterally 13, a couple of years
in.
And um I was playing next to uha great jazz trumpet player who
lives up north now calledRichard Isles.
(05:18):
That's the first time I'd everheard you know a proper jazz
trumpet player in the flesh.
And uh, you know, the the leadplayer was a girl called Kay
Henderson who was absolutelyfabulous.
That's where I met JulianArgüelles, and we had a little
quintet together, it was aspin-off of the big band.
Geoff (05:33):
Okay.
Martin (05:33):
So I was doing a lot of jazz from early on.
Right.
And like I said before, thatwas all basically what um uh my
story goes, if at home this is,if mum or dad weren't
practicing, because they theyused to practice hard, you know.
But basically, if if theyweren't practicing the piano,
then there would be jazz on.
Geoff (05:52):
Were you into transcribing and writing stuff
down, or how did you how did youlearn to improvise?
Martin (05:57):
I did transcribe, but I didn't really write it down.
I used to just learn.
Geoff (06:02):
Okay.
Uh just probably a better wayto do it, I guess.
Martin (06:04):
Well I found it more natural when I was young for
sure.
But I was very lucky because mydad, once he'd sort of realised
that he thought I was gonna bea player, he knew that it would
be really handy to have good uhoral facility.
So he used to give me littlesort of oral tests before school
every morning.
Geoff (06:24):
Whoa.
Martin (06:24):
But he made it fun, it was like a game.
Right.
He'd get me to guess notes andthen guess intervals.
Yeah.
And in fact, to this day Iactually teach using that that
method as well.
So I think it's really handy.
Geoff (06:36):
Nice.
Useful to be able to do, youknow.
Right.
So you'll, you'll play aninterval and you have to guess
which what the interval is.
Martin (06:42):
Yeah, uh first of all, I play it and get them to uh to
play the bottom note, then thetop note, and then let me know
the interval, tell them thenotes, you know.
Geoff (06:50):
Because I know people learn intervals by you know
tunes, don't they?
Maria.
Indeed, yeah, that's true,yeah.
Martin (06:56):
That's good as well.
I mean it's all valid as longas you get to know the sound of
it, and eventually you justrecognise it.
So so then when did you come toLondon then?
What what was what happenednext?
I came to London in 1985.
I got into the Royal Academy.
Geoff (07:09):
Oh.
Martin (07:10):
So I went there for three years, which was great.
And luckily the first year Iwas there uh was the first year
that they started introducingsome kind of jazz tuition as
well.
Right.
It was Graham Collier,actually.
I remember.
It wasn't a uh a jazz course assuch, but there was a big band,
which was nice, and a couple oflittle jazz history lessons
(07:31):
here and there.
And because of that, I think Soyou were doing the straight
course or the or the Yeah, I wasdoing the straight course,
yeah, literally, a three-yeardegree in in uh in music.
Okay.
But also, just quickly, I Imanaged to wangle second study
jazz trumpet lessons with HenryLowther.
Oh, nice.
Which was amazing, reallylovely, lovely man, you know.
Yeah, he was my mentor for it.
(07:51):
It's amazing, isn't he?
I actually went to Berkeley fora five-week summer school
between the academy uh and theGuild hall, actually.
So I did the postgrad jazz andstudio music, I think it was
called at the Guild hall.
So yeah, I did four full yearsplus a little bit.
Geoff (08:09):
And how was your Berkeley experience?
How did you...
Martin (08:11):
oh it was good fun?
I mean th they actually uh puta lot of emphasis on oral
ability, they used the the, thesolfège scale method, which they
taught me.
I, I hadn't done it before, soI found that quite taxing
actually.
But it was great, really goodfun.
And I had lessons with uh a guycalled Lou Mucci, who used to
(08:31):
be in Dizzy Gillespie's band.
Wow, wonderful.
And then there was a guy calledWayne Nauss who did uh Buddy
Rich's big band and all thatkind of stuff.
But yeah, it was great fun,great experience.
Geoff (08:41):
Fantastic.
Would you say you use licks,you know, as part of your
playing, or do you not thinkabout that?
Martin (08:46):
I certainly have uh a few licks which I use which have
become part of my vocabulary.
But quite honestly, I neverreally practiced licks uh as a
kid.
I kind of relied on justlistening because I really did
listen so much to lots of reallytop quality jazz, and I think
that's super important.
And also it was m it was mainlypiano players for a good few
(09:08):
years.
Oh, right, interesting.
So the licks didn't reallytranslate as such, but obviously
when you're listening to allthose people I mentioned before,
especially Oscar, I mean, time,I think I learnt a lot about
jazz time from Oscar.
I mean it's flawless, I think.
Beautiful.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And then Chick, say Chick Coreais a very percussive player,
but lovely lines as well.
So yeah, I I think it went in.
(09:30):
But then one oh I guess I wasabout fourteen, and my dad used
to have this residency, and thisnew guitarist joined the band.
And when he found out I was atrumpet player, bless him, he
made up a little cassette tapeshowing my age there uh of
Clifford Brown.
Right.
He basically said to my dad,Oh, if he's a trumpet player,
(09:50):
he's got to listen to CliffordBrown.
Yeah.
And that was it, really.
That was uh my starting point.
Geoff (09:56):
And you you teach, you've done a lot more teaching of
late, haven't you?
Because uh I know you'verecently been teaching at the
Purcell School, haven't you?
Martin (10:02):
That's right, yes.
I mean I've taught I've been onthe books at the um Royal
College actually for many, manyyears.
I taught at the BirminghamConservatoire for quite a few
years.
Right.
Do you enjoy teaching?
I do actually, yeah, I do enjoyit.
And as you rightly say, lastyear I started uh at the Purcell
School of Music.
Mm-hmm.
Uh especially like secondaryschool, you know.
Geoff (10:24):
I imagine that standard is pretty high there, isn't it?
Martin (10:26):
It really is, actually.
I was I was quite surprised,shocked even, in a nice way, you
know.
Geoff (10:31):
When you've got really advanced students, do you ever
find it a a challenge to findthings to do with them?
Martin (10:36):
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, especially with children,but most of us I think you'll
agree.
The it w when you get to a wellwhen you've been doing it for
30 odd years, yeah, you get thissort of uh experience behind
you.
And there's just certain thingsyou find out only by doing it
for that long.
Yeah.
Certain the way you phrasecertain things, you know, and
(10:57):
your sound and way ofapproaching playing, I think,
just gets much more mature asyou get older.
But you can't you just can'tplay like that when you're when
you're a kid.
Yeah.
And you know, uh kids all quiteoften play too many notes when
you know they could have said avery similar thing with with
with fewer, just little thingslike that, I think.
Geoff (11:19):
So another thing I wanted to ask you about is playing in
big bands.
Do you like playing in asection?
Martin (11:24):
I do, I love it, absolutely.
But I always tend to playfourth trumpet now, which is
kind of the jazz chair thesedays.
I'm basically booked because Ican improvise.
I certainly wouldn't ever siton lead because it's a bit scary
and I can't really do it verywell.
I'm sure you could.
Well, actually, no, honestly,Geoff, I really couldn't, but uh
nice of you to think I might beable to.
No, it's it's a range and andstyle.
(11:44):
Well, not even style.
Obviously, I could hearstylistically how it would need
to go, but range wise, I'm justI haven't got the setup for that
kind of playing at all.
So playing fourth trumpet, thatmeans you're following the
leader, right?
Exactly.
That's what I was gonna say,yeah.
So really you in an ideal worldyou listen hard to your lead
trumpet player and you try andphrase like he does or she does,
(12:04):
you know.
For instance, I'll do the BBCBig Band, which is always a
fabulous band.
Yeah.
And uh someone like Mike Lovettsprings to mind because he
plays lead with the band and hephrases so beautifully and he
kind of he he sits back on thebeat, which I kind of do
naturally, so I find it veryeasy to phrase with someone like
Mike.
But if a uh a a different kindof player that maybe plays
(12:28):
towards the top, top end of thebeat comes in, then I just
adjust.
Uh but you you find uh over theyears you just learn to do that
naturally, yeah.
Geoff (12:37):
Yeah.
So let's talk about jazzstandards.
I think I know the answer tothis question, but uh do you
have a favourite jazz standard?
Martin (12:52):
I do actually, Geoff.
And I'm telling you, well,you've played it with me for
about uh a thousand times bynow, I think.
It's actually.
My Romance, okay.
And I'll tell you for why.
It came from uh I'm a huge fanof Bob Mintzer.
I just love the way he phrasesand improvises.
He's just a fabulous musicianand writer.
And I've got most of his bigband albums.
(13:13):
Okay.
He's a great, great arranger aswell, isn't he?
Oh, absolutely, yeah,beautiful.
I love the way voices for hornsand just amazing musician.
Yeah.
And his work with the YellowJackets, of course.
But uh it's just a one-off uhwell, almost like a throwaway
track.
I believe it's on Spectrum, butI'm not hundred percent sure.
But it's on one of the lateeighties big big band albums,
(13:37):
but it but he plays a quartetversion of My Romance, right?
And it was just so lovely.
It's one of those tracks youlisten to and just put it on
repeat and listen about five orsix times.
Was that the first version youknew of that tune?
Yeah, it was actually.
Yeah, I hadn't played itbefore.
But this is years and yearsago.
Right.
Like uh probably earlynineties, I guess.
Yeah.
But it just it just struck meso hard, you know, it struck a
(13:59):
chord with me.
Yeah, and I just loved it.
I just listened over and overagain, and within you know, five
or six times I'd I'd got themelody, and I just played it
from from then on and eversince.
Geoff (14:10):
My Romance is actually in Quartet Volume One.
So Quartet One contains all theessentials.
You own this one, right?
Martin (14:16):
Yeah, I do actually, yeah.
I must admit, Geoff, I've I'vebeen using them uh uh a lot at
the Purcell School.
They're a great vehicle toteach.
That's a good thing.
Geoff (14:24):
That's a good thing, yeah.
Uh Rogers and Hart, isn't it?
Um, that's right, yes, right.
Rogers and Hart.
Yeah.
I say to students, learn allthose ones first.
The first hundred and fifty arethe essentials, you know, All
The Things You Are and Stella ByStarlight and Blues, Rhythmn
Changes, and all those things.
Makes good sense.
Have you found that you've usedany particular other tunes from
from this?
Well, perhaps?
Martin (14:43):
To be honest, I I quite often leave it to the students
to tell me what they want tolearn.
But I've I mean I've beenthrough, you know, I've used
Autumn Leaves, I've used uh AllThe Things You Are.
Yeah.
I've I used um All Blues for afew weeks.
Uh, I used Emily the other day,actually.
Nice.
Which is a lovely tune.
But uh yeah, that was I meanit's always handy.
(15:05):
And one thing I love about it,I must admit, is how versatile
it is.
Yeah.
The fact that you can changekey, yeah, you know, easily.
Yeah.
You can um uh add a sax playerso they can at least listen to
how a pro would, you know,approach the sequence.
Yeah, oh good.
And you can change the time aswell, which is a really good
thing.
Geoff (15:23):
Yeah.
Do you want to get your hornout and then we'll give you a
minute to warm up and then um Iknow trumpet is a particularly
tiring instrument.
But do you have specific thingsfor for warming up?
Martin (15:32):
Um I do.
I must admit I warmed up uhthis afternoon with in fact I
taught today as well.
I had a student come round atmidday for a couple of hours.
So I, I warmed up at abouteleven o'clock.
Geoff (15:42):
Okay.
And again, it varies on So youjust have to do that once a day
and then you're okay, you'reokay for the rest of the day.
Martin (15:47):
Basically, yes, that's right, yeah.
Geoff (15:49):
That's handy.
Martin (15:49):
But that always uh always kind of bemuses me as
well, really.
Because you can literally warmup in the morning and then play
a little and then leave it forlike seven hours, eight hours,
and it's still there.
Fresh for for the gigin the evening.
Oh, I wish it did, you know.
I still don't know the answerto that.
Geoff (16:07):
So you warm up at midnight, then you surely be
ready for breakfast.
Martin (16:10):
Well, you know what?
It's it's a lovely idea, but itjust doesn't for some reason it
doesn't work like that.
Wow, wow.
No, and again, you know, we'reall different.
I think all trumpet playershave different ways of warming
up.
Some guys, particularly whenthey're busy, uh, hardly need to
warm up at all.
I've noticed that the lead guystend to somehow warm up a bit
(16:30):
less.
But again, a lot of it might bepsychological.
I've always felt the need tocover the whole range of the
instrument for 10 or 15 minutes,really, a week.
Well, personally, I mean I Ijust do that, I think it's a
Herbert Clark exercise.
Etc.
(17:00):
etc.
Geoff (17:01):
Nice bit of chromatics there, yeah.
Yeah.
So that's colorful.
That does it for me.
Lots of fingering also.
Martin (17:06):
Yeah, it keeps your fingers going and it gently gets
your chops working as well.
I do find you know, if they'reparticularly bruised from the
day before, I might warm up onflugelhorn instead of trumpet.
Uh again, that's noteverybody's thing.
Geoff (17:19):
Is it true that flugel horn is slightly easier to play
than the trumpet?
Martin (17:22):
I wouldn't say easier, just different, really.
I, I find it gentler.
To be honest, theoretically, itshould be harder because the
mouthpiece is deeper, so youhaven't got that kind of back
pressure going on like you haveon trumpets.
But I've always found it uh tobe advantageous to have a deep
mouthpiece because when youarticulate, you've got more
(17:43):
room, you know, you canarticulate uh in a stronger way.
Geoff (17:48):
Here we go.
How was that?
(19:56):
How did that feel?
Martin (19:57):
That felt nice, actually, yeah, yeah.
I mean uh I've worked a lot withthe guys, as you well know
anyway, but I mean that'sbasically my choice rhythm
section to be honest.
Geoff (20:06):
Stepping into a warm bath, is it?
Basically, yeah.
Martin (20:09):
It's fabulous, you know.
I love the way you all uhswing.
Seb, obviously beautiful, andGraham, fabulous voicings.
Geoff (20:17):
So what were you thinking about when you were playing?
Martin (20:19):
Harmony has always been my my kind of first love in
terms of music theory, if youlike.
I guess I'm just listening tothe the way the sequence moves
from chord to chord.
I I have played this tune anawful lot, so I know it very
well.
Whilst I I do try and listen tothe rhythm section while I'm
playing, I'm trying to find nicemelodies to weave uh through
(20:43):
the sequence.
Yeah.
I'm always thinking forwards ina kind of horizontal way.
Yeah.
Geoff (20:48):
But there's a lot of chords in this.
Now, are you thinking eachchord or are you thinking across
many chords?
Martin (20:53):
With a tune like this.
I certainly don't really thinkof every every chord
individually.
I think through the sequence.
I I read or s or hear thesequence as a whole.
But I'm thinking at least twoor three chords ahead.
When I teach, actually, I makea point of getting my students
to really know their guidetones.
The third and the seventh, Ireally do think it's nice to at
(21:17):
least be able to land on them.
Or it it's really important touh when the harmony changes, to
land on a nice note that spellsthe chord out.
Geoff (21:25):
That's a really good point.
Martin (21:26):
Yeah, and you don't have to play that way, but it's nice
to be able to do it.
Yeah.
Geoff (21:30):
So you you were talking about licks early on, you know,
you've got your trumpet in yourhand.
Martin (21:34):
So if I'm going from say D minor to G7 to C major, this
is one of the you know the fewactual licks I do use, but I
know this is one of them.
Go on then.
Yeah, nice, yeah.
Because I I've I've always beena fan of the altered scale and
(21:54):
the diminished scale.
Yeah.
So really, I mean the the theway up is just so I'm going
third, fifth, seven, nine,eleven.
Yeah.
But then on the way down, justturning it into a diminished
lick.
Yeah.
Do you know that's one of a fewwhich I like.
(22:15):
I mean I I I teach a few licks,but I'd yeah I shy away from uh
just getting my students to dolots of licks in all different
keys.
I'd rather they work more onthe natural ability to
improvise.
But just I do get them to um toplay in time with a sequence,
(22:37):
but only use, for instance, thethe thirds or the fifths, or
play just minim jazz, I call it.
So you're improvising justusing minims and thinking about
the graduation of the uh thechord you're on, you know, all
that kind of stuff.
Geoff (22:51):
Could you demonstrate that?
Give us some minim jazz.
I'll go straight in on achorus.
Here we go.
unknown (22:55):
Okay.
Martin (23:24):
And then what I do is start to um use different
rhythms.
I might do triplets across itthen.
Okay.
Maybe minim triplets and thencrotchets and then crotchet
triplets.
J uh in my uh opinion, it'sgood because it takes away one
of the things you have to thinkabout when you're improvising.
So that the the rhythm is agiven.
(23:44):
So you concentrate and focus alittle more on just the melody.
Geoff (23:50):
Amazing.
Yeah, I love that.
Yeah.
Just to finish, I've got acouple of quick fire questions.
Your favourite album?
Martin (23:58):
It's difficult to say one, but well, the first one
that springs to mind is ThreeQuartets, Chick Corea.
Oh, good question.
I absolutely love that album.
Geoff (24:05):
Fantastic.
That's Michael Brecker, isn'tit?
That's right.
Yeah, um, yeah, fantastic.
Beautiful.
Favourite musician alive ordead, you like to play with?
Martin (24:13):
I, I always wanted to play with Chick, actually, Chick
Corea.
Okay.
What I do love is his uh duostuff with Herbie, first of all,
and uh Gary Burton.
Okay.
I love those albums.
Yeah, so much interplay, youknow, it's beautiful.
Geoff (24:26):
Highlight of your career?
Any any memorable gigs.
Martin (24:29):
I must admit, um I did I, I played for Jamiroquai in
the 90s, and we did a few nicebig gigs with those guys.
We actually played at Woodstockin the late 90s, and we
followed James Brown on stage,and there are about 120, 130,000
people in the audience.
That one really stands out, Imust admit.
And the funniest thing aboutthat is the following day we
(24:52):
flew home and I played theBull's Head with a little funk
band to about ten people, feetright firmly back on the floor.
Geoff (25:00):
That's amazing.
Yeah, I I came to see you playwith Jamiroquai at Wembley
Arena, yeah.
You may have even put me on thedoor.
Did you get to blow much inthat band?
Martin (25:07):
Yeah, we did actually.
Yeah, he was quite free withthe solos.
That was good.
Geoff (25:11):
What a great gig to do.
How long did you do that for?
Martin (25:13):
I did it for six years, between ninety-four and two
thousand.
Fantastic, yeah.
Yeah, it was good fun.
Geoff (25:19):
What's the last concert you went to?
Martin (25:21):
I must admit I hardly ever go and see music.
I've seen Take Six a couple oftimes because I was so blown
away with them.
Yeah.
And I saw Brecker a couple oftimes.
Uh and I also saw Chick andGary Burton.
But I think for me personally,especially a few years back when
I was very busy, I just, youknow, a a night off was a night
off I wouldn't have thought togo and see.
(25:42):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You know what it's like.
Geoff (25:44):
Um what would you say was your musical weakness?
Martin (25:47):
I suppose playing over changes like um Coltrane
changes.
Hard changes, yeah.
I find it really difficult,actually.
Yeah.
I have to really work at that.
Geoff (26:00):
Do you ever get nervous on stage or when was the last
time you got nervous?
Martin (26:03):
I do get nervous, you know.
I get nervous because I'm notas match fit chops wise as I was
when I was busy.
It was really pre-COVID, Ithink.
COVID did um change myprofessional work a fair bit.
Yeah.
And I'll be honest with you, Ihad a few months off because I
just thought it would be a nicechange.
It was literally I had threemonths off playing.
(26:23):
Really?
Which is the first time since Iwas eleven years old.
And uh you know, it wasinteresting.
I obviously I missed it in theend, and it's great to be back.
But uh it was interesting.
Geoff (26:34):
Okay.
A few silly questions just tofinish off.
Your favourite sandwich?
Martin (26:38):
Favourite sandwich is tuna and sweet corn.
Geoff (26:43):
Have you got a favourite movie?
Martin (26:45):
Favourite movie has to be the Shawshank Redemption.
Geoff (26:48):
Oh, that's a good choice.
Favourite venue that you playedin?
Martin (26:52):
Oh, um I used to really like the Pizza on the Park.
How was it?
That was a really good room andthe piano was fantastic.
Yeah, yeah, that's a good one.
Geoff (27:00):
And your favourite country or city?
Martin (27:02):
Oh, um Vancouver.
Oh I went to Vancouver once.
We started a tour of uh Canadaand America with Jamiraquai and
then.
Geoff (27:10):
Very European, isn't it?
That that's that's it.
Martin (27:12):
And it just really struck me.
I remember thinking it's one ofthe few cities I could imagine
living in, right.
Apart from London, you know.
Geoff (27:19):
Excellent.
And finally, your favouritechord?
Martin (27:21):
My favourite chord to play on.
Well, it's it's gotta bealtered scale or altered chord.
Yeah.
There's no particular key, Isuppose.
E for me.
Yeah.
So D, D7 altered.
D seven altered.
Geoff (27:32):
Excellent choice.
Right.
So, Martin, thank you so muchfor for doing it.
It's a pleasure.
It was really informative andand I really enjoyed it.
And hopefully we'll get peoplewill get a lot from that.
So thank you very much.
Martin (27:43):
Pleasure.
Geoff (27:43):
All right, and see you soon.
Cheers.
Announcement (27:45):
Thank you for making it to the end of another
podcast.
Please subscribe if you want tohear more of them as they land.
The Quartet Jazz StandardsPodcast is a UK Music Apps
production.
Quartet for iOS, taking yourjazz play along to another
level.
Search for Quartet on the AppStore or find out more at
quartetapp.com.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!