Meeting at The Stables Theatre

Geoff 0:05

Today I'm in Milton Keynes at the legendary Stables Theatre, and I'm chatting to a young wonder kid, a saxophone player and guitar player, Harry Greene, who's fresh out of college. I think he's the youngest guest of this podcast. So looking forward to getting a young person's perspective on the jazz scene. So here we go. Hi Harry, how are you?

Harry 0:51

I'm very, very well.

Geoff 0:52

Thanks for being my guest.

Pink Floyd Sparks Sax and Guitar

Harry 0:54

That's alright, it's a pleasure.

Geoff 0:55

Can we start talking about how you got started? What's your background?

Harry 0:59

Sure thing. So my parents, if we're gonna go right back, both music lovers. Um, my dad, well-heeled and well-versed in music, and then my mum was grade eight in classical, what is it, cello, clarinet, and piano. And the sort of turning point for me was actually a particular Pink Floyd song. I don't know if you know Money?

Geoff 1:23

Of course.

Harry 1:24

Dung dun dong dong dong dung dung dung hip tune. And I loved it. I loved it because

Geoff 1:31

And you probably didn't know it was in seven-four?

Harry 1:33

Well, there you go, exactly. I mean, I just sort of went, ooh, this is cool. Yeah. Um, but the thing for me was that it had a saxophone solo. You did. And a guitar solo. Yeah. And I think my little seven-year-old mind sort of couldn't, you know, decide which I wanted to go for, so I was just like, yeah, let's do both. So that was that was sort of the thing of that specific. I can really sort of trace it back to that tune. Um

Geoff 1:59

So what did you start with? You because you play guitar and saxophone.

Harry 2:02

I started them both at the same time.

Geoff 2:04

Great, that's amazing.

Harry 2:05

Didn't seem like a mentally difficult undertaking for the seven-year-old.

Geoff 2:09

Well, it isn't no!

Harry 2:10

But it's like you just sort of think, oh yeah, I'll do that. I remember my mum always used to get really frustrated because she tried like sit me down at the piano, and I used to just be so annoying, and I'd just want to go and get on the guitar and fiddle around with my cheap pedals, and I think she sort of gave up trying to teach me the piano. And actually, it's something that in hindsight I kind of wish I'd taken a bit more seriously because you know I really kind of suck at the piano, especially when I got to Academy and there were these people that were like, Oh, yeah, I don't really play the piano, and then they were like freaking all over it. I was just like, You do play the piano, like and they were amazing. Yeah, um, but I think because I've always had guitar as my sort of chordal instrument, it's made me a bit lazy with the piano, but yeah, it was my my mum, clarinet, cello, piano was her background, and then my root in, as I said, was Floyd, and then I was massively into like The Eagles, Beatles, that sort of rock.

Geoff 3:11

All guitar-based stuff, obviously.

Harry 3:13

All guitar-based stuff, again, and then I think I came to jazz through the like the back entrance, I guess. I sort of I it wasn't it wasn't jazz that actually first captivated me to start doing it.

Geoff 3:28

Pink Floyd, that Money track is it's pretty jazzy, really, isn't it? It is, it's kind of swinging and in 7-4. So

Harry 3:35

Absolutely right. So there's elements, I guess, of that in there, and I just love the sort of musicianship and the musicality of of Pink Floyd. I just I just like even now, and you know, like those albums and like Dave Gilmour's like solo stuff, I just think oh, just I mean, some of that is like Desert Island disc.

Geoff 3:54

I saw Dave Gilmour play at the Albert Hall last year, actually. He he's so distinctive in his guitar sound, isn't he? He plays two notes and it's and you know it's him.

Harry 4:02

Really, yeah, you're absolutely right. And I think that vocal, that very sort of lyrical way that he approaches the guitar, was I think something that maybe subconsciously appealed to me. You know, my route in wasn't through like shredders or you know, like Malmsteen and those sorts of guitar players. I think it was the sort of the lyricism of Dave's stuff that must have just spoken to me a bit more than you know, like tapping and treading and like so.

Geoff 4:30

Did you learn some of his solos and play along and things like that?

Harry 4:32

Yeah, I mean, there was definitely a bunch of especially on the On An Island album, which was oh I'm trying to remember what year that was from, but anyway, amazing solo album, and just the riffs and the solos from that were just like incredible. So yeah, just trying to sort of emulate that sort of thing that he was going for. And then jazz and blues kind of came maybe a year or two later.

Geoff 4:57

So, what was your first entry into jazz, and how did you learn, where did you get your vocabulary from?

Academy Life and Building a Career

Harry 5:02

So I was I was still a little whipper snapper, I must have been maybe 10 or 11. And it was with my then guitar teacher, a gentleman called Martin Donald, at school, and he bought in a um a Parker, I can't remember if it was like a sort of concert omnibook or or or something, and I remember him playing through the head of Billie's Bounce, and I was like, oh, this is cool. It was the and I was like, this is so cool, just like I couldn't believe what I was kind of hearing. It was like, you know, a totally different way of approaching melody. Yeah, I guess that's the first bit of language that I heard, really, that particular lick, and I was just like, oh, that is that is amazing. And at the time I was also having lessons with an amazing gentleman called Steve Laws, who my mum got me onto because he was a jazz teacher. Um, the very kind of straight classical saxophone teacher at my school was quickly uh thrown under the under the bus by my mum, and she was just like, No, he's no good for you. Um, so we quickly found a jazz teacher, and again, he was amazing, and you know, from really sort of early on, we were looking at tunes from Kind Of Blue, we were looking at modes, we were looking at all sorts of stuff that I was really interested in. So I guess that sort of those two things sort of came at a similar time, and then it sort of grew, and then you just, you know, I guess especially when you're a kid, you're a little sponge, aren't you? So you just sort of you want to go and find out everything there is about, and you you know, I sort of got a bit obsessed with all that sort of stuff. I didn't do junior academy, but what I did do for quite a few years, I did an amazing sort of residential programme called Aldeburgh Young Musicians. They operate out of, I assume they're they I assume they're still going, but they they were out of Snape Maltings. Yeah. And the sort of diversity of guests that they got in to run courses was really, really amazing. So you ended up doing all sorts of stuff from straight-ahead jazz to sort of more contemporary stuff. I mean, I remember sort of Kit Downs came in a few times and you know, we had him, which is amazing, but then also totally unrelated to jazz. You know, you're looking at Schoenberg and you're looking at all of this sort of stuff. So it was a full the whole point of that institution was that it was like a full sort of spectral thing.

Geoff 7:29

Wow, very open-minded.

Harry 7:31

Oh, incredibly open-minded, and I think maybe I've always been someone that likes to sort of look at and assess all the options and then kind of cherry-pick the oh, yeah, I'll I'll take that. I'm alright, I'm glad I know that, but I'm not that into it. But I can like, oh, I like this over here. So I can I'll take that. And you sort of like take lots of different little things, yeah. And then I sort of had identified teachers, these were saxophone teachers that taught at the Academy, and I would go into London for sort of masterclasses, you know, privately with those guys. So it was um, yeah, it would have been um Mark Lockhart and Tim Garland and and those sorts of guys, you know, people that were really like there, and I was like, oh yeah, I want to get some of their stuff before I go. And I, you know, I applied for you know for a bunch of places, but I was really delighted when I got into Academy because it was my kind of aspiration to they to the Academy. No, um, I was yeah, I was one of two sax players in the year, um, and I think generally their year groups are capped at around eight, sort of over all the instruments.

Geoff 8:38

Crazy, isn't it?

Harry 8:39

So it was like, wow, you know, I I really hope I get on with these people because there's four years of a very small group.

Geoff 8:46

So I presume the guitar wasn't the main purpose of your study there.

Harry 8:49

I did no guitar at Academy.

Geoff 8:51

Right.

Harry 8:51

I did absolutely I did none, which was which was fine really, and you know, and I I totally get it, like their course isn't set up for people that play the guitar and the sax. For me, it was never like a thing that I just kind of do a bit on the side. It was something that no, this is like equally important to me.

Geoff 9:11

Yeah.

Harry 9:12

But I guess through osmosis, you know, when you're learning certain things on the sax, they sort of have transferred onto the guitar kind of naturally. You know, all of the sort of things about arranging, composing, you know, is obviously transferable across everything. Um, but yeah, Academy was, you know, it was amazing, you know, especially as I was living, you know, at the time out in the sticks in Suffolk, it was kind of like a bit of a Stuart Little moment. Wow, we're in London. You know, that was that was all that sort of thing as well.

Geoff 9:44

Where do you live now?

Harry 9:45

So at the moment I'm back in the Suffolk countryside.

Geoff 9:50

Okay, and how's that working? Had being living in Suffolk and working a lot, a lot of work now.

Harry 9:54

Yeah, I mean I drive 28,000 miles a year, so there's that. But also what it has done, it's definitely made me really work as hard as I possibly can because I've always sort of felt a bit like I'm on the back foot compared to people that live in London. So I've just always tried to like grind as much as possible because I'm just like I already have a disadvantage here because I don't live where everyone else lives, right? So I think it's helped in that sense, and it's also really, really helped and kind of caused the start of me doing the writing, arranging, producing work, which I do now, and I do a lot of it. Um, and I don't think I necessarily would have started that avenue if I was in London and I was like, oh, I can go and gig six nights a week, you know. But I was like, oh, I'm out of town, so I need to figure out what I can do to work at home in the studio that doesn't need me to, you know, leave the house for hours on end every single day. In hindsight, I wouldn't have changed anything. I wouldn't, you know, so it's it's worked, it's worked out really, really well.

Geoff 11:03

And what about gigs? I mean, how much of your gigs is guitar and how much of it is saxophone?

Harry 11:08

So I'd say it's a it's a fairly even split. At the moment, it seems to be a little bit more guitar. I've got quite a few dates in with Incognito this year, which I'm really, really looking forward to. Um I'm sort of doing the sort of slightly further flung dates. So we're doing um doing Java Jazz, which I'm really excited about about um Philippines, I'm going to Borneo, um, going to all sorts of cool places, which is going to be really, really good fun. You know, I like the sort of evenness of the split because it means that you know, just get to work with lots of different sort of cool people and across lots of different genres of music as well.

Geoff 11:50

So I've um I've made some apps, as you're obviously aware of.

Harry 11:54

I'm very aware of.

Geoff 11:54

You have played on a few little bits and bobs, haven't you?

Harry 11:57

Absolutely.

Geoff 11:57

You played, did you play on the last one?

Harry 11:59

It was five. I think it might be a few.

Geoff 12:01

Oh you played on five on the Christmas one.

Harry 12:03

Five on the Christmas one.

Choosing 'Bernie’s Tune' Then Playing

Geoff 12:04

That's right, yes. I asked you to pick a tune today to play on, and we'll talk about it afterwards. Which tune did you pick?

Harry 12:10

I picked uh Bernie's Tune.

Geoff 12:12

Okay. And you this is this a standard that you particularly like?

Harry 12:15

Yeah, absolutely. I just think it's um if I was to describe it, it's just a kind of it's a cheeky tune, isn't it? Like, it's really nice. Um, and yeah, when you said, you know, I'm sure if you asked me now or in five minutes, I might have picked something different, but at the time I was just like, yeah, this sounds like a good one.

Geoff 12:33

Two choruses of Bernie's Tune.

Harry 12:35

Wonderful.

Geoff 12:36

Uh, with an eight-bar introduction. No, no, we're not gonna play the tune, we're just gonna improvise and then we'll have a little chat afterwards.

Harry 12:41

Beautiful.

Geoff 12:41

Let's see what happens.

Improvisation Choices and Key Influences

Harry 12:42

Let's see what happens.

Geoff 14:10

Very nice, yes. How did that feel to play to?

Harry 14:13

Yeah, yeah. Fantastic.

Geoff 14:15

Fantastic playing, fantastic. When you're improvising on that, because it's quite open the D minorness, isn't it? Yes. Are there particular patterns or things that you go to when you're when you start improvising?

Harry 14:26

That sort of natural sixth is something that I kind of like to lean into on this sort of minor stuff, you know. Like that sort of sound, I think, is pretty kind of hip.

Geoff 14:39

Nice.

Harry 14:40

And of course, you know, making that B flat a sharp 11, you know. You know, so those sorts of movements, you know, keeping that common tone, you know, the concert E. You know, so finding those little sort of pathways through the tune like that. And then, you know, when you get to the bridge, it's nice to kind of have obviously the sort bop.

Geoff 15:18

It just goes to B flat major, doesn't it?

Harry 15:20

Yeah, exactly. So so you know, uh, or you know, you know, with a sort of more bluesy inflection. So it's kind of the openness of the tune is is what I like about it. The fact that it is distinctly in two keys as well. Yeah.

Geoff 15:53

Um so your vocabulary, the some of the things you're playing there, did you are there are you drawing on certain saxophone players? Are you thinking about Sonny Rollins or Dexter or any of any of those great players? When you some of your ideas, where where does some of your most formative ideas come from?

Harry 16:10

I mean, Hank Mobley is a is a sort of big one.

Geoff 16:14

Yeah.

Harry 16:14

I god, I spent so much time with Soul Station, uh that album when I was a young pup. Um just so much amazing stuff in there. Yeah, you know, you mentioned Dexter as well, that sort of way of articulating quavers that he has, you know, where it's very kind of it's broad and he's almost sort of tonguing each individual note, you know. So that's really, really cool as well. But yeah, I mean, you know, again, it's it's a it's an assimilation of you know, all of my, you know, all of the influences, right?

Geoff 16:53

Well, you'll be able to hear yourself back when you when you listen to this podcast.

Harry 16:55

Absolutely, absolutely. And go, ah, I wish I'd play that differently.

Albums, Dream Collaborations, Career Highs

Geoff 16:59

Yeah, fantastic. Yeah, I'm sure you'll be very pleased with yourself. It's out loud, it's great. I really love your playing, yeah. Amazing, amazing. I've got some questions for you actually. So, starting with your favourite album?

Harry 17:19

that is , oh Geoff, that's a big one. That has the meaning of life.

Geoff 17:24

You can have a couple.

Harry 17:25

I can have a couple. I I would include Soul Station in my at least in my top two, because again, such a formative album. Yeah.

Geoff 17:38

For me too, actually. Funny enough, that one. Yeah.

Harry 17:40

Yeah, just absolutely amazing.

Geoff 17:42

Because we obviously have quite diverse tastes that aren't jazz. You know, you talk about Pink Floyd. Is there any other stuff that you listen to that maybe isn't jazz at the moment?

Harry 17:50

Yeah, oh absolutely. I mean, I would say that Um I Am by Earth Wind and Fire is definitely on that list. Live at Chastain Park, James Brown.

Geoff 18:00

Right.

Harry 18:01

Amazing, just the energy and just and just the the looseness as well and the beauty of the imperfection in that stuff, but it's all the better for it. Yeah, I'd I'd throw those in there as well, and you know, it's the question of all questions, but right now I think those three would be, you know, imagining myself marooned on a desert island. Oh, the list is endless.

Geoff 18:25

I know you can we could talk about that. Alright, so my second question um is there a musician alive or dead that you would like to play with?

Harry 18:32

I would like I'd love to play with Stevie Wonder. That's the dream. Yeah, that's the thing.

Geoff 18:35

There you go. That's it. What more is there to say?

Harry 18:37

What more is there?

Geoff 18:38

Right. What is the highlight of your career so far? Highlight is you're so young.

Harry 18:43

Yes, exactly.

Geoff 18:44

You're actually you're probably the youngest person I've had on my podcast. I've spoken to a lot of older gentlemen, especially and older ladies.

Harry 18:52

Older ladies? Well, I'll I'll put a blue plaque on my house. Here resides the youngest person on Geoff's podcast. Um,

Geoff 19:00

highlight of your career.

Harry 19:01

If I can count things that are imminently coming up as well, Java Jazz with Incognito is gonna be very exciting. I'm also doing Wembley for the first time next month. That's gonna be great. I can't wait. And in terms of stuff that I have done, a real highlight was the funk soul orchestral project that I had with an amazing friend of mine called Ashton Jones, who's a wicked singer, musician, band leader, and we we put together this great show. It was the music of James Brown and Prince, and we sort of assembled this unbelievable band. And you know, sort of being out the front, it was my first sort of you know bit of conducting as well. So that was amazing, doing the arrangements, seeing that all that come together. So the satisfaction.

Geoff 19:52

Where did you do that?

Arranging Reading Charts and Confidence

Harry 19:53

We did um we did our first show at Ronnie's, which was amazing, and then we've sort of we sort of did some theatres. Uh we did here actually, we've we've done The Stables, um, we you know, it's got sort of big festivals as well. So that was really, really cool. Because I'm a bit of a sort of organizer as well. I kind of like to be the person that's kind of putting stuff together, and you know, like, oh yeah, wouldn't it be cool to like do this? And oh, we can have this person, and you know, I've got even just like the sort of admin and all the boring stuff, it's kind of like I get a bit of a kick out of like sorting it all out. So when it comes together and the musicians are all very happy, as well as the audience, that's like a real like, oh, everyone enjoys themselves.

Geoff 20:34

It is a slightly sort of nerdy question, but when you're arranging, are you conscious of that? Do you want to give every musician something interesting?

Harry 20:41

Oh, 100%. and absolutely right. I think allowing freedom for your musicians when you're arranging for them is so cool, especially if you're booking people that have got sort of personality in their playing.

Geoff 20:55

Maybe not so much if you don't know their personality.

Harry 20:58

Exactly. Yeah, I mean if if you're like just being, you know, if if if the project is being fixed for you and you don't know the people, then obviously it's a safety net to just sort of notate everything. But if you can go, oh, you know, like, oh, they're a real saucy like organ player. So I want to stick them on that. Yeah. And actually, for this particular project, it was a mixture of um, you know, even in the rhythm section, some people read and some people didn't. So that was a real thing of okay, we've got strings over there, horns over there, they're obviously all reading, and then you've got a mix of people in the rhythm section. Some of them might be reading, some of them may have just learnt it from the demo that I've done. Oh gosh. So kind of like, so you're not in a position where you're just like, okay, well, um the four before A, you know, it's kind of like

Geoff 21:41

that's a challenge, isn't it?

Harry 21:42

You're sort of dealing with, but again, like that's a bit of a buzz as well, just sort of like having a bit of a hand in all of the different sections.

Geoff 21:50

What a challenge.

Harry 21:51

Yeah, it was a challenge, but I I do um I quite like a challenge.

Geoff 21:53

You like a challenge?

Harry 21:54

I do like a challenge.

Geoff 21:55

Fantastic. Right. Uh, what would you say was your musical weakness?

Harry 21:59

My musical. Weakness, uh reading notation on the guitar. That's definitely a weakness. I'm not very good at that. Give me chord charts, give me hits and slashes, bada bing all day long. But in terms of reading, like it's just like, oh forget about it, get someone else.

Geoff 22:18

Yeah. Did you ever do classical guitar?

Harry 22:21

No.

Geoff 22:21

No, okay. It is hard reading on guitar, isn't it?

Harry 22:25

It really is.

Geoff 22:25

Yeah.

Harry 22:26

It really is. Simply because there's the rumours are true.

Geoff 22:28

Three or four places to play the same note. I know.

Harry 22:31

The saxophone is a typewriter.

Geoff 22:33

A musical typewriter.

Harry 22:34

It is a musical typewriter.

Geoff 22:35

That's in the words of Martin Hathaway.

Harry 22:37

Yeah, well, and I I totally understand. Yes.

Geoff 22:40

Okay.

Harry 22:40

You don't need to also you don't need to look at it when you're trying to play the notation either. It's just it's there.

Geoff 22:47

So so presumably do you don't really have to read guitar very often, do you, in your professional life?

Harry 22:53

No, I don't. And like the gigs that I've, you know, so it's, you know, if if it's with, you know, my sort of recent guitarist stuff, again, it's been like PB Underground, Incognito, like loads of other, you know, some sort of like poppy things. It's just like you don't, you don't even, from a visual point of view, you don't want to be reading those gigs anyway. You want to be, you know, like I and also I enjoy those gigs so much more when I've just been, you know, absorbing the material in the car, you know, whatever, and then I can just be like enjoying myself, you know, heads up.

Geoff 23:23

So here's a here's a question because my son is he's um he's 21, he's yeah, he's coming to the end of his Guild hall course. I I've had this discussion with him about young musicians and reading, and he is very anti-reading. He says, Because he's he's in the stage at the moment where he's a student and every day he's rehearsing with someone or someone else. There's rehearsals, rehearsals, rehearsals all the time. No one uses charts.

Harry 23:50

That's very interesting. What if I uh if I may ask, is he what sort of genre of stuff?

Geoff 23:57

Sort of poppy kind of RB, slightly jazzy crossover things.

Harry 24:01

Yeah, I would really regret not being able to be proficient in notation, if we can call it that as opposed to being

Geoff 24:11

Well the question the question is not that because he can read, and probably a lot of people can read, but they choose not to. So as a deliberate, you know, I mean I say to him, if you want to give someone cut down the rehearsal time, give them a chart, you know, and you can

Harry 24:26

oh I mean even I mean for that reason alone, man, like the amount of fiddling around that you end up doing. Um, you know, and I've been in situations where it's been, you know, maybe uh it's been a sort of pop gig, I've been the sort of MD, and people are so they are always so grateful for charts. You know, even if it's not the most intricately detailed thing in the world, you know, it it's clear charts. All the yeah, hits all the information is on there, you know, particular baselines, yeah, it's so useful. And again, just from an efficiency point of view, like if you if you could turn up, you know, pr with charts prepared like that, it's really useful. But I think in terms of and maybe it's a sort of general thing, I think if you have a skill, I think it would be a shame to neglect that skill to the point where it just gets worse and worse over time. So if he is a guitar player that can read, then sick, like that's brilliant. And there's not a lot of guitarists that can really read, and also um, you know, I'm aware of avenues of work that are not as open to me, like you know, it's shows, it's you know, things like that, like all that sort of thing. It's so useful to be able to, you know, they need to

Geoff 25:41

necessarily want to do that though, do you?

Harry 25:42

No, I don't, um, and which is why I've sort of like, you know, created other things that I don't have to go and do that. But again, like having, especially if you know, thinking about I sound like an old fart back when I was 21, but I guess you want to you want to have options, yeah. You know, and you know, maybe he's you know, he's obviously like doing really well with with what he's doing, but I think it's good to just you know maintain skills if you're lucky enough to have them.

Geoff 26:10

Um when you came out of college, were you doing um lots of sort of rehearsal bands and things like that when you

Harry 26:17

I mean it was all a bit weird for me, man. Because like as soon as I came out of college, it I had two years of COVID, essentially. So it was all a bit my time, I think I feel like my time scale is a little bit wonky. Um but yeah, I've definitely done the sort of rehearsal band thing. Um and yeah, I like I said, it's it's sort of it becomes harder to to justify that, I guess, when you get a little bit older and you know, maybe it's like it's just a rehearsal and there's not necessarily any sort of dosh involved.

Geoff 26:49

It's the transition from being a student to being a professional musician, isn't it?

Harry 26:52

That's you're absolutely right.

Geoff 26:54

That's the thing, you know, students are forever everyone's rehearsing and not getting paid. Soon as people have to are out of college and they have to earn a living, yeah.

Harry 27:02

And it's like is the rehearsal paid? You know, like it's got to be a paid rehearsal, or if it's not, what you know, you we know it. It's like you sort of you turn on to you rehearsing the sound check, don't you? You know that's when you do the rehearsal. Yeah, and again, like you know, if you can read, even if if it's if it's a bit, then you're just gonna be really well equipped to to get through that sound check, you know.

Geoff 27:22

Yeah, yeah. Um do you ever get nervous on stage?

Harry 27:26

I only get nervous when I feel a bit underprepared. Okay, and that's why I will do everything I can to never feel underprepared. Like, I really I like I the the feeling of like being on stage and not really, and I've you know, again, this was when I would have been younger, like maybe student vibes in first year, second year, whatever. Maybe being a little bit. This was a particular time at Academy, actually, and I remember turning up to the first um rehearsal for something and being like, yeah, I'm at the Academy. Pretty, you know, pretty good. And turned up to this rehearsal and I hadn't bothered to look at the Dropbox. Wh and it was so hard, and I got absolutely grilled.

Geoff 28:14

Wow.

Harry 28:15

Because I had the I had the yeah, I'd had the I had the pad for like a fortnight, and I just sort of didn't bother to really look at it properly, and then we're we're in there.

Geoff 28:25

I've done that before as well.

Harry 28:26

I feel I feel like everyone does it once. Do you know what I mean? Because then you feel you feel the feeling of how it feels to be on the on the stage, even if it's a rehearsal and you are the sucker, and it's just like, well, this is terrible. I never I never want to feel like this again.

Geoff 28:43

You just feel embarrassed, don't you?

Harry 28:45

The embarrassment is the worst thing. And like you just think that people are gonna be looking at you just like, oh, there's something.

Geoff 28:50

Were you in a section?

Harry 28:52

Yeah, it was part of a section, and again, it was just like

Geoff 28:54

You just mime, right?

Harry 28:56

Yeah, you just go.

Pop Touring, Prep and Working With Stars

Geoff 29:00

God, yeah. Right, my next question. Um, this is a new one. Uh have you ever been starstruck?

Harry 29:06

Have I ever been starstruck?

Geoff 29:08

Have you ever met any of your heroes or anything like that?

Harry 29:11

That's really interesting. My my heroes are your like Stevie Wonder figures, and I haven't.

Geoff 29:18

And they're also a little bit out of reach. They're a bit out of my league

Harry 29:22

Um, never say never. But I've I feel like I haven't come across a situation in which I've been like, oh, I'm I'm a bit scared to talk to that person because

Geoff 29:33

any of your heroes, anyone that you would really admire.

Harry 29:36

Yeah, like people I admire, um, you know, I guess like, you know, Bluey is an example, you know, and yeah, like, you know, he's been running this legendary band for ages. Yeah, and but but it's just like you just, you know, like most of the time, well, in you know, in fact, all of the time, you know, whenever I've met someone that's you know got a bit of a a profile, I guess, uh you're sort of like, well, they're all like nice humans people, like they haven't got to where they are by being nasty pieces of work, you know. So again, I I think I'm I'm I'm not a real sort of star-struck prone sort of person either. And if I am working with someone that you know is in that sort of you know, echelon or whatever, then I kind of think to myself, well, I'm there for a reason.

Geoff 30:24

Now you worked with Olly Murs, didn't you?

Harry 30:26

Yes, I did.

Geoff 30:27

Okay, tell us a little bit about that.

Harry 30:29

That was that was really fun, you know. That was, I'll tell you what, in terms of prepping for a gig, goodness me, that was a lot of prep. Because it was a it was an off-book horn section.

Geoff 30:41

Right.

Harry 30:41

Um, and it was a horn section called the Triple H horns, who are amazing. They they play loads with, you know, Shaka Khan, Christine Aguilera, they're like really at the top of their game in the sort of like pop horn section thing, and they've done all of these amazing um like live arrangements of the Olly tunes, and again, like some of the studio recordings, they're obviously they're a little bit dry, but like the live arrangements for the band and the horn section was was wicked. But again, it was you need to learn all of these arrangements, and again, when you're playing tenor, you're kind of in the like the middle voicing. So learning all these sort of middle voicing parts, yeah, is really difficult.

Geoff 31:22

It's usually the alto, isn't it, that gets the gets the s* stuff.

Harry 31:24

There you go. You know, so the learning and the prep was probably like I remember a lot of like even like neighbours at the time were just saying, Oh, I've played a lot of sax, aren't you? I'm just like, yes, I am. Because like if you if you play, you know, bada in the wrong place, and neither of your other two people in the section plays it, you're gonna stick out like such a.

Geoff 31:43

So are they are they English or American, the Triple H?

Harry 31:46

So they're English section, and they're they're fantastic. Like I've I've sort of worked with them quite a lot, and um I've um with I don't know if you know Mo Pleasure, he's an amazing guy. He was Earth Wind and Fire's musical director and Michael Jackson's musical director. So I've kind of learned quite a lot from him from working with his sort of you know projects in various capacities. So Triple H, you know, with him was a really sort of cool.

Geoff 32:13

So that was your way into that gig, was it?

Harry 32:15

Well, I'm trying to again like you sort of do these things for quite a long time, and you think, oh, how did I how did I meet that person? Um, but yeah, I've kind of known um Pat Hayes, who's trombone player um in Triple H and does a lot of the arrangements. Um, and yeah, it was kind of like, oh, they're going on doing a Shaka thing, um, and they need a dep horn section for the Olly run. So we did a sort of bunch of dates. Um, and again, it was like that that sort of discipline, yeah, learning all of these really gnarly sort of, you know, but like learning that times 15 songs, and then there's like, oh, there's a 1980s medley, and it's just like, oh my god, you know, learning all this stuff, but then the sense of achievement when you know you all like you sort of look around and it's like, yeah, yeah, we we smashed that, didn't we? We did a really good job, and then again, because you're not using charts, yeah, you can interact with the artist, you can you can you can sort of actually uh look around and sort of appreciate what's going on instead of just being like glued to a thing, yeah. Um, so and there's a bit of choreo with those gigs, isn't there? So you can have to have a bit of a boogie around you know, with a bari sax, which was quite challenging. That should be a David Lloyd class, right?

Geoff 33:28

Right.

Harry 33:28

You know, and in terms of very challenging.

Geoff 33:30

And in terms of working with someone like that who's a who's a star, you know, what was what was that experience like in terms of working with a famous person?

Harry 33:38

Again, he was just cool, like it was nice, was just a just a bloke, you know, like they always say, slightly shorter in real life.

Quickfire Favourites, Travel Chords and What’s Next

Geoff 33:48

I think we'll leave it at that, right? Okay, let's move on. What is your favourite sandwich?

Harry 33:52

My favourite sandwich.

Geoff 33:54

You've probably prepared this, haven't you?

Harry 33:57

This is the only one that I've I've put a massive amount of thought into this. Go on. Um well, I am I allowed to extend this to a toasty. Of course, that's a sandwich. Okay, I okay, there's a sandwich. Well, it's a toasty at Wright's Cafe in Bury St. Edmunds, and it is a Bloody Mary beef brisket.

Geoff 34:17

And Bloody Mary because it's the the beef is soaked in vodka?

Harry 34:22

Yeah, and like tomato. Honestly, it's amazing. And I think, and it yes, Swiss cheese and Bloody Mary toasting is extraordinary. It's gluttonous because they fry it as well. So, like if you're if you're on Weight Watchers, then it's not very good. But it's it's amazing. But I you know, I could actually know what I could do a whole podcast about sandwiches.

Geoff 34:42

Well, there we go, we we won't, but we'll

Harry 34:44

there's no time.

Geoff 34:45

We'll have a few more questions, right? Um, favorite movie?

Harry 34:49

Favourite movie, The Italian job.

Geoff 34:50

Have you seen it recently though?

Harry 34:52

Yes, it's I have actually it's pretty ridiculous, though, isn't it? Yeah, it's it's very ridiculous. But what I would say is the the music. Yes, okay, the Lamborghini Miura. Yeah, oh, it's just unbelievable. It's so cool. And he's there with his cigarette and his sunglasses, and he's driving through the Alps, and he's the coolest dude in the world. And then the crash and the Mafia. I think for an old film, yeah, the pacing is quite contemporary.

Geoff 35:21

Right, okay.

Harry 35:22

Because I remember watching, and again, totally different universe of film, but I I would say similar era, kind of 60s. I remember I watched Aristocats quite recently.

Geoff 35:31

Right.

Harry 35:32

Honestly, I was falling asleep. It's so slow, yeah. You know, and you know, other sort of films of that era. But yeah, Italian original Italian Job, I was just like, this is kind of this has got sort of pace.

Geoff 35:43

I saw that a few years ago, Italian Job, and and I just it was a bit where they stop all the traffic, don't they, in the in the city from one computer.

Harry 35:52

From one computer, you press a button and all of Rome goes to pot.

Geoff 35:56

Nothing ridiculous. He's like, oh come off.

Harry 35:58

Yeah, it is ridiculous, but I also I I I find the characters to be very charming, yeah. Um, and especially the sort of like Noel Cowards, yeah.

Geoff 36:09

In the prison, he's the boss, isn't he?

Harry 36:11

To my opponent. It's just like all this and I love minis, and yeah, it's just cool.

Geoff 36:16

And Michael Caine is a dude, and yeah, that is very cool, very cool. Uh, right. What about a favourite venue to play in?

Harry 36:23

I know it's a real cliche, but there is something about Ronnie Scott's.

Geoff 36:26

Ronnie Scott's? What I love to do whenever I'm playing Ronnie's is I just I my little ritual is I always just want to get there a little bit earlier and go for a espresso at Bar Italia before the sound check. Yeah. Preferably sit outside, and it's just you just it does make you feel good. Have you travelled much? Have you got a favourite city somewhere to visit?

Harry 36:46

Um yeah, I have travelled a lot. Um I would say so far, Tokyo. Just the scale was so mind-blowing. Like it to me, it made London seem like a sort of small provincial village. Like it was just, oh my god, it was unbelievable. And again, the the attention, the cultural attention to detail and the sort of shared communal respect for the traditions that just make society a bit more, you know, it was like the the you know, no, we we don't cross the road if it's not a green man, and also things, you know, whereas obviously London's just like, yeah, I've got about half a second before getting run over by that bus. Yeah, here we go.

Geoff 37:26

Did you say the Bullet train?

Harry 37:28

So yes, the Shinkanson , took the bullet train, which was amazing. There was so much space on it and the whole thing, it was amazing, and you know, the the little traditions like not supposed to walk down the street eating and drinking.

Geoff 37:40

That's true, yeah.

Harry 37:41

That seemed to be rude. So the beautiful vending machines with the you know the bin next to it, so you you you stationary and then you put it in the the designated bin, which is obviously it's never overflowing and rubbish like it is in the UK. It's just it's it's it's wicked.

Geoff 37:58

And were you working there or were you just visiting it?

Harry 38:00

Just a holiday. Yeah, I mean, I'd I would love to go back.

Geoff 38:02

Not a regular holiday destination, is it? Why why did you decide to go there?

Harry 38:06

Just I think it was the just how sort of kind of exotic it is, and it just sort of, you know, just feels like you're going somewhere that's that's got such a small amount of cultural um sort of you know similarity with you know the Suffolk countryside.

Geoff 38:28

Not much in common, yeah.

Harry 38:29

Yeah, exactly.

Geoff 38:30

I first went there in the in the 1980s, actually, and and it was it was very different. It was you could nobody spoke English. I got I got completely lost in Tokyo. Oh. Which was very disorientating and a little bit scary.

Harry 38:42

Of course. So pre-Google Maps and pre-

Geoff 38:45

pre-internets.

Harry 38:46

All those sorts of things.

Geoff 38:48

Uh a couple more new questions. New questions. Uh window or aisle?

Harry 38:52

Oh, aisle. 100%.

Geoff 38:54

Yeah.

Harry 38:54

Because then you can get out for a wee.

Geoff 38:56

Okay.

Harry 38:57

I don't want to disturb, I don't want to be like cool.

Geoff 39:02

Cats or dogs?

Harry 39:03

Dogs.

Geoff 39:03

Do you have a dog or something?

Harry 39:04

I've got a cockapoo.

Geoff 39:05

Nice.

Harry 39:06

I think it is gorgeous.

Geoff 39:08

Fantastic. What's your most used app on your phone?

Harry 39:11

Most used app on my phone is probably gonna be Instagram. And I'd like to use it.

Geoff 39:17

Do you post every day?

Harry 39:18

No, I definitely don't post every day. Um actually I've found that posting too much, somehow the reach of your post is diminished if you post too regularly. Like I I maybe did um a couple of times. I sort of like posted on the Monday and the Wednesday, for example. Uh-huh. And then on the Wednesday just goes like it does nothing.

Geoff 39:40

Do you post for any particular reason?

Harry 39:42

It's for again, it's just a it's a it's an online business card, as far as I'm concerned. Right. And I want people to go on there and immediately go, okay, he plays those venues with those sorts of people, he looks like that, he sounds like this, boom, immediately. Just like straight away.

Geoff 40:05

Right.

Harry 40:06

So it's a kind of little business card, sort of also, we all know it's a highlight reel. You know, you don't put your sad days on Instagram, but as a work thing, and I don't use it for anything else, I hardly ever put anything sort of personal on there.

Geoff 40:19

Right.

Harry 40:20

Um, it's literally just a tool, and I make an effort with it and I try to make sure that everything sounds good and you know isn't grainy and rubbish looking. And I just think it's sort of subconsciously, people sort of I'm not saying that I'm a master at it at all, but I think you sort of go onto people's pages and you go, Oh, okay, this guy seems cool, you know. So hopefully that's what mine does, and it definitely really helps with work, for sure.

Geoff 40:45

Right, excellent. Uh it doesn't really help me, but I'll try it again. Oh, well. Um, one last question. What's your favourite chord?

Harry 40:52

Because it's you today, Geoff, a G13 su s. All day long.

Geoff 40:58

You saw my car reg on your car.

Harry 41:01

I'm trying to think of

Geoff 41:02

that's my number. That's my number plate.

Harry 41:03

Do you have any other chords that you could make into a number plate?

Geoff 41:06

GG13.

Harry 41:07

GG13 sus. I don't think you can make A flat 7-13 sharp nine into a number plate, then I'm a bit convoluted. But uh, well, I would say I'm a sucker for a 13 flat nine as well. I think that's such a cool sound. But also E7 sharp nine. Just d d d d

Geoff 41:25

Jimmy Hendrix.

Harry 41:26

Jimi Hendrix chord, exactly. So yes, there's a there's a chord for every every every flat.

Geoff 41:30

Are you composing much at the moment? You're doing much writing?

Harry 41:33

So, what am I doing right now? I'm actually doing, I'm about to start doing The um Voice finals, doing all the arranging and programming for that. I'm sort of in the middle of a couple of other sort of arranging projects as well. So at the moment, it's kind of you know, this job arranging, this job arranging. Um, but like I said, it's good that I've got so much work, but I'd quite like to carve out a bit more creative time at some point. Yes. Um, so that would be nice.

Geoff 42:03

Good. And you've got the um things with Incognito coming up?

Harry 42:05

That's that's gonna be really cool.

Geoff 42:07

Nice little travel things.

Harry 42:08

Absolutely. Yeah, no, that'd be really, really nice. Um, and yeah, just good vibes for the rest of the year, really.

Geoff 42:16

And of course, this evening we're t we're together in The Stables in Wavenden. We're gonna do the Chris Inham's Steely Jazz tonight.

Harry 42:22

Yes, I'm really forced to.

Geoff 42:24

Which is uh the music of Steely Dan done in a jazz kind of style.

Harry 42:28

It's not um, you know, it's very, very well arranged. Like I think it's absolutely brilliant, and it's not a sort of oh, it's a jazzy pastiche of this music, it's very crafted. Um I think the fact that Chris sings as well is really nice because I think some of these melodies might be a bit of a challenge on just instrumental, yeah.

Geoff 42:49

That'd be hard.

Harry 42:50

Um, yeah, especially is also so much of and I I don't know, I also slightly struggle with fully instrumental arrangements of vocal tunes because I just find that the lyrics are such an important thing of a song, you know, and that sort of a whole element that you immediately lose.

Geoff 43:09

Yeah, yeah. It starts to sound like smooth jazz, doesn't it?

Harry 43:11

Well, yeah, it can do, can't it? You know, and you know, I I'm not impartial to a bit of smooth jazz on occasion. There's nothing wrong with that, but it's kind of like, oh, there's this there's this layer that you're missing. It's like having a dish without a key ingredient, you know.

Geoff 43:25

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Well, there we go. Well, Harry, thank you so much for your time. And um

Harry 43:29

Thank you for having me.

Geoff 43:30

I'm looking forward to the gig later on.

Harry 43:31

Absolutely, it's gonna be marvelous.

Geoff 43:33

And um, yeah, enjoy the trip, your travels, and will and enjoy the rest of your life.

Harry 43:39

I'll do my very best to do that.

Geoff 43:41

All right, I'll see you soon. Thanks.

Announcement 43:44

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