Wax Poetic

Wax Poetic is the first band i had besides my early jazz trios and quartets etc. I started Wax Poetic in 1998 at a time when I was really in the cross roads of jazz and what was going on in the UK at the time, Portishead, drum n’bass, Massive Attack etc. I was already experimenting making music with live dj’s and spoken word artists on my curated nights at a club called “save the robots”. I was hosting friday nights at the upstairs room where I was leading an experimental jam session, where i invited spoken word artists, dj’s , live sample making artists mixed in with traditional instruments like rhodes, drums, percussion,bass, sax etc. It was at that time i decided to start up Wax Poetic. The first record has that sound, the mixture in between instruments and trip -hop beats and vibes. Throughout the 6 records I have done so far, I always kept the spirit of collaboration, which has resulted with the band always having a changing cast of players. On the record and on live shows I always look for that special tone in the musicians and I have been lucky to have found and played with quite a few over the years. All those players are on the records or they played live with Wax Poetic. Norah Jones, Bebel Gilberto, Sabina Sciubba, Vijay Iyer,Craig Taborn, Jamie Saft,Eddie Henderson, Clark Gayton,Jesse Murphy,Marlon Browden. Marla Turner, Lisa Rudolph, Saul Willimas,Nicole Willis, Imani,Dj Mutamassik, Dj Singe, Gabriel Gordon, Kenny Wollesen, Karina Zeviani , Otto, Thor Madsen, N’dea Davenport, Jochen Rueckert,Paul Ogunsalo. And I’m sure there are more that i forgetting…and then now the current Wax Poetic is with Sissy Clemens, Zeke Zime and Brandon Lewis. We are currently working on a record that Gus Oberg, who produced the last 2 The Strokes albums, will produce. The new songs are feeling great, can’t wait to get them recorded and out.