Gilles Peterson

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Gilles Peterson

Gilles Peterson 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. 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], on BBC Radio 1 which is also broadcast live from the Radio 1 website, and 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.

History

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. He had a radio slot on BBC Radio London in 1986, then ran a notable club night in Camden. 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.

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.

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.

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 producers and artists.

In 1990 he left Acid Jazz and founded Talkin' Loud - soon enlisting fellow Kiss DJ Norman Jay. This label had artists like Courtney Pine, MJ Cole, Young Disciples, Reprazent and 4hero - whose albums each received a Mercury Music Prize nomination, (only Reprazent winning, in 1997) - as well as Incognito, Terry Callier, Galliano and others.

Through his BBC show Worldwide, Gilles Peterson has continued to stretch the musical boundaries, in August 2004 the show moved from Wednesday to an earlier Sunday slot from 1100 to 0100 with a spectacular live outside bradcast from the Big Chill Festival in 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 is the sessions from the BBC's legendary Maida Vale studios. These have included artists such as: Roots Manuva, Outlines' and The Platinum Pied Pipers.

Radio shows and gigs continue to fuse hip-hop, jazz and soul with the newer styles of brokenbeats 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.

In 2005, track of the year was won by Amerie for 'one thing', and album of the year by Fat Freddy's Drop who also performed live, along with Japan's Soil and Pimp Sessions.

He has also released several DJ mix CDs and compilation CDs. 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.

External links

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