Solid Steel - The Herbie Hancock Interview (TX: 01/04/2002)

To say DK and I were excited about this meeting would be an understatement of galactic proportions only equalled by the size of Herbie’s afro in the seventies. From our first encounter with him via ‘Rockit’ (along with virtually every B-Boy-to-be outside of the States in the 80’s) to his jazz, electronic, funk and disco eras we would later discover, this was a very big deal.

He was on a trip to promote his new record with Bill Laswell, The Future, and, after quizzing him about this, we delved back far into his 70’s incarnations asking all kinds of trainspottery questions about lost soundtracks, sampling, Sextant and Sesame Street. You could not hope for a more gracious and forthcoming subject and he really got into things by the end, having to be virtually dragged from the studio by his PA in order not to miss his next appointment. The final programme was a full on collaboration between DK and I as we pooled our collections and found all the different pieces of the jigsaw that would illustrate the interview he had given us.

The cover of the CD was made up of slices from all of the records we discussed, each one showing part of a face from the original cover. DK liked it so much he had me make up a poster for his studio and we made a small run of CDs as before, one of which we sent to Herbie but we don’t know if he ever received it.

Solid Steel - The David Axelrod Interview (TX: 02/07/2001)

This was DK’s gig the whole way although he was accompanied by his musical partner from Arc, Dean Smith, during the meeting as they are both rabid fans of ‘The Axe’. DK’s resulting mix was a labour of love taking in obscure productions along with the better known ones and a plethora of hip hop records that had sampled the Axeman over the years. At one point, when discussing a Miriam Makeba album, Axelrod cut him dead saying, “How did you know that I arranged for Miriam Makeba?” He knew that he had done the recording, but had never seen a copy of the record and so surprised that anyone else knew about it. Fortunately, DK had two copies of the record and so managed to get a copy to him later that day.

Axelrod recounted many stories from the music industry over the years, letting us in on his influences, favourite session musicians, thoughts on his music being sampled and even revealing the fact that a film he scored was actually credited to another producer (a fact we couldn’t reveal in the broadcast). When it came time to make some CDs, he photographed some of his collection relating to the interview against his old stereogram and we had some suitably retro artwork.

Strictly Kev

Solid Steel - The Herbie Hancock Interview

Podcast: Available via Solid Steel Podcast (10/10/2008 show)

1. Herbie Hancock - US Megamix (Solid Steel Remix) (CBS)
2. Herbie Hancock - Kebero Pt. 1 (Transparent)
3. Herbie Hancock - Wisdom (Transparent)
4. Herbie Hancock - The Essence (Transparent)
5. Herbie Hancock - Black Gravity (Transparent)
6. Herbie Hancock - Virtual Hornets (Transparent)
7. Herbie Hancock - Raindance (CBS)
8. Herbie Hancock - Rockit CBS)
9. Malcolm Mclaren - Buffalo Girls (Charisma)
10. Herbie Hancock - Nobu (Sony Japan)
11. Kimiko Kasai - Sunlight (Sony Japan)
12. Herbie Hancock - Thought It Was You (CBS)
13. Herbie Hancock - Ostinato (Suite For Angela) (Warner Brothers)
14. Herbie Hancock - Water Torture (Warner Brothers)
15. Herbie Hancock - Watermelon Man (Blue Note)
16. Fred Wesley & The JBs - Watermelon Man (Polydor)
17. Earl Hines Quartet - Watermelon Man (Charioscuro Records)
18. Moe Koffman Quartet - Watermelon Man (Radio Canada)
19. Herbie Hancock - Watermelon Man (Columbia)
20. Miles Davis - In A Silent Way (Columbia)
21. Herbie Hancock  - Chameleon (Columbia)
22. The Headhunters - God Make Me Funky (Arista)
23. Jungle Brothers - Braggin’ & Boastin’ (Warlock)
24. The Mighty Bop - Infrarouge (Yellow)
25. US 3 - Cantaloupe (Capitol)
26. Ballistic Brothers - Blacker (Delancy Street)
27. Organized Konfusion - Walk Into The Sun (Hollywood Basic)
28. King Bee - Back By Dope Demand (First Bass)
29. Ski Oakenfull - Fifths (Primaudial)
30. Deeelite - Groove Is In The Heart (Elektra)
31. Herbie Hancock - Bring Down The Birds (Odean)
32. Herbie Hancock - Jammin’ With Herbie (TCB)
33. Herbie Hancock - Unknown (Vinlange)
34. Herbie Hancock - The Spook Who Sat Behind The Door (Unknown)
35. Bobby Hutcherson - Maiden Voyage (Blue Note)

Solid Steel - The David Axelrod Interview

Download: Solid Steel - The David Axelrod Interview (1hr, 82MB)

1. David Axelrod - The Warning (Capitol)
2. David Mccallum - House Of Mirrors (Capitol)
3. Myriam Makeba - Quit It (Disque Esperance)
4. Art Tatum - Willow Weep For Me (Verve)
5. Lou Reed - Walk On The Wild Side (RCA)
6. David Axelrod - Holy Thursday (Capitol)
7. Black Sheep - Without A Doubt (Mercury)
8. DJ Shadow - Midnight In A Perfect World (Mo Wax)
9. David Axelrod - The Human Abstract (Capitol)
10. David McCallum - The Edge (Capitol)
11. Howard Roberts - Dirty Old Bossa Nova (Capitol)
12. Tribe Called Quest - Jam (Jive)
13. Howard Roberts - Gasoline Alley (Capitol)
14. Cannonball Adderley - Space Spiritual (Capitol)
15. Sly And The Family Stone - If You Want Me To Stay (Epic)
16. David Axelrod - Crystal Ball (Mo Wax)
17. The Electric Prunes - Holy Are You (Reprise)
18. David Axelrod - Jimmy T (Mo Wax)
19. David Rose - Main Title From Exodus (Capitol)
20. Lou Rawls - Life Time Monologue (Capitol)
21. David Axelrod - The Little Children (Mo Wax)