Samuel Purdey - Clever Girl

BecksBlue

I've had to put my original choice on the back burner because of djpekingman's too similar selection, so I've gone with this instead.

It's a cover of a Tower of Power track, I think, by a band you've probably never heard of. I only know them because I went to school with one of them.
Back then he had just begun to teach himself how to play electric guitar, hoping to emulate his hero Paul Weller by fronting his own band. It seemed a ridiculously hopeless dream for a scrawny 12 year old to have, so 12 year old me gifted him my Jam LPs to help make it feel a little bit better.

A few years later, while in 6th form, he did have a band, who played at a Live Aid-esque gig he organised single-handedly. He copped a bit of banter for that- other lads calling him 'Saint Gav' - but I was too busy ogling the bass player to give him the applause he probably deserved.

So we moved on. I moved on to become a single parent at the age of 22, he moved on to TOTP; touring with Jamiroquai; session musician work and forming Samuel Purdey (amongst other things.) He soon repaid the Jam LPs with a tour jacket and bottle vodka on a fleeting visit back to Brighton. Nursing a massive hangover the next day, I realised I no longer felt sorry for him and his impossible dream because he'd already achieved it, I felt sorry for myself instead.

So, every time I'm tempted to annihilate a piece of music just because it's not my cup of tea, I think of Gav. Like him, someone has had enough talent and enough tenacity to have their childhood dream become real, and that's more than I've ever done. Hopefully, some of you will like this and some of you may even dig around into his latest musical venture -Mighty Mezz - I hope so. I'm really proud of what he's achieved over the last 44 years so, this one's for you Gav xx

Loose_Lips

Nice one - great story I'll look forward to this later.

zico

Great write up.

oneallanclarke

My liking for this genre pretty much begins and ends with the Brand New Heavies. I’m second to none in my admiration for Gilles Peterson but when he plays this type of track my attention wanders. But it’s inoffensive and very much worth it for reading the story behind the choice.

Odd_Job

Super story. Will listen later.

Djpekingman

Never heard of him/them/it and that's a good thing, new experiences and all that. There was the Acid Jazz phase, ruled by the likes of the aforementioned Jamiroquai and BNH, endless Blue Note compilations and releases, Working Week, Jhelisa, Shara Nelson, Galliano etc etc, all of which I would rate higher than this, which although pleasant enough doesn't grab I'm afraid. Good wee tale though.

Misura

Djpekingman Duffer of St. George, brown cords & shit hats are what I remember about Acid Jazz.

oneallanclarke

Djpekingman Oh, had somewhow forgotten loads of those you’ve just mentioned: Jhelisa’s Friendly Pressure’s a good song. Galliiano I mostly couldn’t get on with though their cover of Long Time Gone was all right. Young Disciples’ Apparently Nothin, Working Week’s Venceramos were top tunes. Memories of occasional Saturday nights at The Cooker.
This has hints of those but also Freeez of Southern Freeez fame.

fuzzy

Misura Plus wearing your Nana's beads.

My favourite Acid Jazz band were Mother Earth.

Good background there Becks. The bass has a nice sound to it. The Jamiroquai connection makes me think of this Fast Show sketch. " My mother was and is the wind"

Flaneur

Acid Jazz was a window to another musical world for me. Led me to deep dive Roy Ayres, Pharoah Sanders, Herbie Hancock, Azymuth etc.

I met Eddie Pillar a few times and he was/is a switched on cat.

Trainers were Adidas Country.

Djpekingman

Flaneur I was a Roy Ayers fan from house music. Fucking no idea what he had on his plates though.

Loose_Lips

fuzzy an excellent choice young lion.

BecksBlue

I probably should have mentioned that it's not, strictly speaking, an 'Essential' for me, but it was essential I post something😇

Flaneur

Djpekingman I have a good idea.

In his own words, he wore:

"I was wearing a pair of white sneakers and a pair of white shorts
And I had white t-shirt with the inscription that read on the front of it: Earth, Wind & Fire"

You cannot tell me that he was not good to go:

Young_Marxist_at_Tescos

Enjoyed the write up much more than the track, but on this thread, for me, that’s more than half the battle. Excellent work 👌

Harvest

Nice sentiments. Track's not my scene though.

Ken_Lobster

Not really my thing .
It’s a bit lifeless,passionless for me .

Anchor

Nice write up - really not my thing at all, not many genres I actively dislike - this is one of them.

File Alongside Golden earing.

Thanks for the reco and telling us all about Gav.

Travis_Bickle

I reckon you can make a pretty good case for being a successful session player over a 'star'.
You're living your dream of playing music for a job. You can still make a decent living and get to work with a lot of interesting people. Yes, you're the hired help and are told what to play as opposed to writing it. But you don't have your private life plastered over social media and, perhaps most importantly, as the years go by, you don't suffer the downward slope of ever smaller venues and sales. Seems your mate has had a taste of both from a bit of digging online.
I love that he stuck with the dream that so many of us didn't. I like a lot of Tower of Power but this, for me, is one of their lighter efforts. Great backstory here which is what matters.