Name: Terry Edwards
Occupation: Musician
Nationality: British
Recent release: Character Actor EP by Near Jazz Experience feat. Mike Garson on Sartorial Records FIT095EP
If you enjoyed this interview with Terry Edwards you can keep up to date with his online activity at www.terryedwards.co.uk
When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects, and colours. What happens to you physically when you're listening? Do you listen with your eyes open or closed when you're listening? Do you listen with your eyes open or closed?
I don't have synaesthesia. I smile a lot when listening to music.
I often listen with my eyes closed. Helps the concentration.
Do you experience strong emotional responses towards certain sounds? If so, what kind of sounds are these and do you have an explanation about the reasons for these responses?
Pedal steel guitar really annoys me - except when played by BJ Cole. He uses the lower strings and doesn't fall into country music cliches. But on the whole that instrument is fingernails-down-the-blackboard to me.
The blend of two horns gives me a lot of joy, be it trumpet/trombone, trumpet/sax, two alto flutes whatever.
There's something clean about two instruments implying bigger sounding chords than are being played. Maybe it's because you can choose a third harmony in your head.
When did you start writing and producing music - and what or who were your early passions and influences?
I played piano from the age of five, trumpet from eleven and guitar at thirteen - though I loved the sound of acoustic guitar from much earlier. 60s pop music was the first thing I was aware of, though as I was classically trained on trumpet and piano I heard more than my fair share of the classics from the 17th, 18th, 19th centuries.
The saxophone came later. I got one for my eighteenth birthday.
Despite being a solo artist and session player for most of your musical career, you've also been in bands, including The Higsons, Scapegoats, Gallon Drunk, PJ Harvey and the Near Jazz Experience. What does being a band-member give you that being a solo artist doesn’t?
I don't think anyone becomes a session player before being in a band - don't we all start off wanting to be in the limelight? There's a gang-mentality in a band. Or maybe more like family.
The Higsons used to take the piss out of each other all the time, but if anyone out of the five of us had a go we'd close ranks just like the bond of brothers. Brothers fight all the time but will always defend each other if someone has a go.
Your role in a band or as a solo artist changes with time and experience too. The NJE is a band of three people who have been around the block and have more confidence in themselves than the greenhorns that The Higsons were.
What are the most important tools and instruments you're currently using?
As a multi-instrumentalist the answer is in the question - as I write I'm on tour with Rhoda Dakar and I play tenor sax and melodica. Last week my most important tool was Sibelius software on my computer as I have been writing orchestral arrangements of Lisa O'Neill's songs for symphony orchestra. Next week I need to brush up on the trumpet and guitar for a Halloween burlesque show.
Never a dull moment.
Which albums or artists do you love specifically for their sound?
I saw violinist Henryk Szeryng perform at the Aldeburgh Festival in 1980 when I was a music student at the University of East Anglia. It was mesmerising.
I love listening to Segovia, Jeff Beck and Marc Ribot when it comes to guitar. And Hendrix of course. Earl Bostic's sax sound is phenomenal.
Are there everyday places, spaces, or devices which intrigue you by the way they sound? Which are these?
The quietness of a church or cathedral is always a welcoming space on tour. It's so different from the rest of the rigmarole of travel/soundcheck/gig.
Some electric buses round my way emit interesting sounds designed to let pedestrians know they're there as the engine is practically silent.
What are among your favourite spaces in which to record and perform your music?
Royal Festival Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall at the Southbank centre for performance.
I'm not too fussed about recording spaces to be honest.
Do music and sound feel “material” to you? Does working with sound feel like you're sculpting or shaping something?
No.
How important is sound for our overall well-being, and to what extent do you feel the "acoustic health" of a society or environment reflects its overall health?
That's not something I've thought about before.
I guess I'm so immersed in it that I'll only notice it if I'm deprived of sound - unlikely to happen as Cage's 4'33" proves.
Tinnitus and developing hyperacusis are very real risks for anyone working with sound. Do you take precautions in this regard, and if you suffer from these or similar issues, how do you cope with them?
Earlier this year I had my hearing tested and had bespoke earplugs made for me. I was pleasantly surprised at how good my hearing is considering my age and my full-time occupation since 1982.
My onstage monitor mix is relatively quiet. I don't really like wearing headphones so only tend to do that in the studio (and in the tourbus when I don't want to listen to my travel companions ...
We can surround ourselves with sound every second of the day. The pianist Glenn Gould even considered this the ultimate delight. How do you see that yourself, and what importance does silence hold?
Taking a rest from sound clears the mind so that we can enjoy the next sounds we hear.
"Silence" is a palette cleanser.
With more and more musicians creating more than ever and more and more of these creations being released, what does this mean for you as an artist in terms of originality? Who are some of the artists and communities that you find inspiring in this regard?
There has always been more music out there than I could ever be aware of. The fact that there's even more being released than was ten years ago - or even ten minutes ago - is neither here nor there. We just have to try and hear what we can.
What inspires me greatly is output from musicians who are even longer in the tooth than me. I find John Cale's output and enthusiasm for creating new material hugely inspiring. I'll always listen to new records by Iggy Pop, Rolling Stones and Yoko Ono too. This is uncharted territory as much as that of young musicians creating sound with brand new technology.
It's all welcome in my world though I hear but a fraction of what's out there.
What's your view on the role and function of music as well as the (e.g. political/social/creative) tasks of artists today - and how do you try to meet these goals in your work?
Music is my vocation. I don't believe I had a choice to do anything else. The fact I've done it for so long is probably a political statement in itself.
If people feel inspired, elated, comradeship or whatever from my music (live or recorded) then whatever I'm doing is working. I wouldn't do anything different anyway so trying to meet goals isn't on my to-do list.
