THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE JAZZ QUESTIONNAIRE: Callum Allardice

The Jac out of Wellington – an eight piece ensemble which has members drawn from rock, jazz and classical backgrounds – released the excellent album Nerve in 2014 which was a finalist in the jazz album of year category, and followed it up with The Green Hour in 2015 which made it into our best of the year list.

The good news then is they are touring (see dates here) and so it is timely to invite someone from the band (saxophonist Jake Baxendale has previously done this) to answer our Famous Elsewhere Jazz Questionnaire.

Guitarist Callum Allardice – who wrote two of the five pieces on their debut and three of the seven on The Green Hour – steps up to the plate . . .

The first piece of music, jazz or otherwise, which really affected you was . . ?

I don’t really remember this but apparently when I was a baby I used to dance to Stevie Ray Vaughan

When did you first realise this jazz thing was for you?

When I was 14 or 15 I had a great guitar teacher called Paolo Grossi, he showed me some George Benson and I knew I wanted to play that.

What one piece of music would you play to a 15-year old into rock music to show them, 'This is jazz, and this is how it works’?

‘Nemesis’ by Aaron Parks. Probably not the most conventional jazz tune, but the mechanics are the same and I think it would probably relate to them more.

Time travel allows you go back to experience great jazz. You would go to . . ?

Probably to see Wes Montgomery at pretty much any gig.

Which period of Miles Davis' career do you most relate to, and why: the acoustic Fifties; his orchestrated albums with Gil Evans; the acoustic bands, the fusion of the late Sixties; street funk of the Seventies or the Tutu album and beyond in the Eighties . . .

Well ‘Kind of Blue’ was one of the first things that got me in to jazz. Right now I would say I relate to the ‘Birth of the Cool’ period. Awesome arrangements.

Any interesting, valuable or just plain strange musical memorabilia at home?

I have an ocarina which I played when I was a kid lying around somewhere…

The best book on the jazz life you have read is . . .

Can’t say I’ve read much jazz literature. ‘The Advancing Guitarist’ by Mick Goodrick has some pretty great philosophical content.

If you could get on stage with anyone it would be . . . (And you would play?)

Too hard to say…

The three films you'd insist anybody watch because they might understand you better are . . .

‘Dark City’, anything from the Cowboy Bebop series. Any good sci-fi or anime.

The last CD or vinyl album you bought was . . . (And your most recent downloads include . . .)

The last physical CD I bought was probably the self titled James Farm album. Most recent downloaded albums are…

Noname - ‘self titled’

Reinier Baas - ‘Reinier Baas vs. Princess Discombobulatrix’

Nate Wood - ‘Another Time’

Mark Guiliana - ‘Family First’

One jazz standard you wished you had written . . .

Hmmm tough one. Almost definitely a ballad, maybe ‘Prelude to a Kiss’ or a Monk ballad.

The poster, album cover or piece of art could you live with on your bedroom forever would be . . .

I used to have a great poster of the Led Zeppelin III album. That’s pretty cool.

Three non-jazz albums for a desert island would be . . ?

Led Zeppelin - ‘ Houses of the Holy’

Nate Wood - ‘Fall’

Any Steely Dan

Your dream band of musicians (living or dead) would be . . ?

Matt Penman - Bass

Jeff Ballard - Drums

And finally, is there a track on your most recent album you would love people to hear. And, if so, why that one?

I haven’t recorded that much really, I would say just watch out for the next one, whenever that may be.