Show name: SOFT (Stiff Old Fat and Tired) Toys / Random Radio
Presenter names: Robin Currie
Show time and day: Monday 2pm – 4pm.
What type of music can we expect to hear on the show?
On the show I play a combination of jazz, swing, blues, some rock, some reggae, soul, classical, world, ethnic, crossover and some country it’s all designed for those people who love music but don’t want to dance.
Why appeals to you about this kind of music?
I like the authenticity of this music, hearing a piece of music that is emotionally and energetically authentic and vibrates with truth.
My experience around improvisation, particularly jazz, is that you have an agreement with your band about where you are going to start and where you are going to finish but you have no idea where it is going in the middle. Some really good musicians trust the process; they don’t know what’s going to happen, they act almost as instruments allowing themselves to be played. The process of this is absolutely amazing even though the end is completely predictable.
It is a metaphor for life – If you are going to control the process in order to get a given outcome it probably isn’t going to work, or at least it will be very controlled, and in most cases when you do actually achieve the things you expected you haven’t enjoyed it. Where as if you are willing to trust the process what will happen is that you celebrate being alive and you get what you anticipated as well.
Years ago I trained as a clown. One thing about being a clown is that you have no secrets. In daily life we have a subconscious agreement not to look and not to see each other. If you are a clown and wearing a red nose that agreement evaporates, so you can actually be seen. The same is true for musicians when they’re playing. Their ego and personality move over and it’s as though they are in touch with the underling truth of the music, and it comes through in a way that is interpretative of the musician. You can experience an individual musician through the music they are playing and it can be incredibly moving. It isn’t necessary the music exclusively because the same piece of music played by two different musicians can be a very different experience.
What is the of your show?
I have a two-hour show and I usually do one hour of SOFT Toys and one hour of Random radio.
SOFT stands for Stiff Old Fat and Tired, the idea behind it being that t is for people who like music but don’t necessarily want to dance.
Random Radio is just that really I have a load of music downloaded; I hit the shuffle button and see what comes up. It’s very interesting because you get some combinations you wouldn’t necessarily anticipate, and I found that in a lot of cases they actually work very well.
Some of the shows have a theme and the music will contrast and compare moving forward and back in time. In a lot of shows I will use a single instrument to compare and contrast through time. For example, a while ago I did a show featuring the soprano saxophone. I started with the conventional saxophone playing things from different time frames, then played soprano sax from different time frames. In a nearly every case it isn’t the style that is important it is the relationship between the musician and the instrument and the audience.
But also the show is about saying there isn’t such a clear definition between musical styles any more there is so much crossover.
Why should we listen to your show?
So you can experience the kind of music that I love.
How did your show come about?
The timing was very good cause the Vibraphonic festival was on and there was a fantastic combination of people. A couple of very good jazz bands at least one good classical orchestra some blues artist and some good South American jazz bands. Gave me an opportunity to play some tracks from bands performing over the next couple of weeks and play some crossover between several of the different things.
There was a very good response.
What goes on behind the scenes in the studio?
I have to admit to occasionally finding myself dancing in the studio. If I am playing a piece of music that is very real, anything emotionally inspiring, sometimes if you’re emotionally moved you laugh or cry or think or even dance!
What has been you best on air moment?
After playing a track I particularly loved I had a deeply emotional interaction with the audience and then discovered I’d turned the microphone off!
What has been your worst/ most embarrassing on air moment?
Probably the same one!
Who is your favourite artist?
What a question! H’mmm. Jan Garbarek, Keith Jarrett, Glenn Gould, Jacques Loussier, Glenn Miller, Frank Sinatra, John Abercrombie, Nina Simone, Stacey Kent, Ella Fitzgerald …anyone who can play wonderfully and improvise from the heart.
A lot of these artists are on a German label called ECM. At one stage I would buy any CD that came out on ECM because I knew it was fantastic.
What is you all time favourite album?
It changes from time to time. At the moment it’s probably Officium by Jan Garbarek & the Hilliard Ensemble – one of the most wonderful pieces I’ve ever heard, a combination of sacred classical music and jazz improvisation. Wonderfully left-field.
