Today we chat with Darren Dutson-Bromley whose show An Evening of Jazz & Blues Guitar is on for one night only on Wednesday 12th August 2009 at the Acoustic Music Centre at St Brides. Whilst writing up Darren’s interview I’ve been listening to his video and loving the peaceful beauty of his superb guitar playing. Clearly this is not a show to miss! So let’s grab a little of Darren’s time to learn more about the man and his music…
1. What inspired you to become a musician?
I suppose there have been a number of influences that have inspired me to follow the path I’m on. My parents were very supportive and had quite a nice record collection that I used to frequently rummage through. I also had a guitar teacher who used to talk about different jazz musicians and bands such as Steely Dan and Little Feet. At that time I was 10 and very happy playing “Apache” and “FBI” by The Shadows. I remember going in to HMV in Leeds one Saturday with my parents and coming out with Countdown to Ecstasy by Steely Dan and Blue Soul by Barney Kessell, having heard neither and been completely blown away. I think that was probably the moment when I had no doubts that that is what I wanted to do. It also made me very open to lots of music so where all my friends were listening to Madness or The Beat I’d be listening to Return to Forever or Joe Pass. Didn’t make me popular though!
2. What’s your show about and what should the public expect from your show at the 2009 Edinburgh Festival Fringe?
It’s a guitar concert so expect loads of guitar playing interspersed with a few anecdotes and stories. A few years back I started playing solo jazz guitar, originally it was for a number of concerts under the title ‘A Tribute to Joe Pass’ but since then it’s evolved and it’s now become one of the main things I do. I’ll be playing some jazz and some Latin and Blues, a few tunes off my last album ‘My Romance’ and some off tunes of an album which will hopefully be out in October/November. It will be all accessible stuff but quite virtuosic so hopefully will appeal to everyone.
3. What was the last Fringe or Festival you performed at and what was it like?
I was up here last year but playing with a theatre company. It was great fun. This is my fringe debut as a soloist, in fact my Scottish debut as a soloist so I’m very excited.
4. What are your funniest and worst experiences performing in front of an audience?
One that does spring to mind as been strangely funny bordering on surreal happened a number of years back playing with a jazz quartet in a beautiful setting over looking a weir on the River Wharf in Yorkshire. All was going really when all of a sudden there was some commotion over by the river. A cow, dead, complete with legs in air was floating down past the windows. At this point a group of hotel employees followed by our audience followed by ourselves rushed outside. A couple of the hotel staff managed to get to the cow to try dislodge it from the position it had now taken up, stuck upon the weir. Apparently sheep occasionally get lodged on the weir and if left can explode and the hotel were very concerned at the prospect of an exploding cow and the damage it could inflict. It took a while but eventually the poor cow sailed off into the sunset accompanied by a huge round of applause from the now quite substantial crowd that had gathered on the riverbank. As you could imagine the next set consisted of various cow related songs, including The Theme to Rawhide, Ghost Riders in the Sky and of course How High the Moo!
Thankfully I can’t really think of many ‘worst’ experiences, I suppose falling off the stage in to the orchestra pit in front of a packed audience at St Georges Hall in Bradford has to be it. It was a long time ago although I still have the guitar with a huge gouge out the back to remind me. Also getting electrocuted wasn’t good and, oh my god there are loads, all these repressed memories. I’ll stop there I think!
5. What’s the best and worst advice you have ever been given? And did you follow it?
The best and worst advice was at school and was ‘Darren should concentrate less on playing guitar and making kites and focus more on school work.’ He was right about the kites. I went back to the school a number of years back to do a presentation to the kids and a little concert and they got in all the local press as a ex-school member ‘done good’ kind of thing. I did look for that teacher but sadly he was no longer there, I don’t know what I would have said, probably ‘kites, what was I thinking?’.
6. What are you most proud of and what dreams or goals would you like to fulfill?
I’m proud of everything I do, if I do it well and I suppose my goals are to carry on doing what I’m doing and just get better at it.
7. Which three famous people would you invite to dinner and why [dead celebrities included]? And what culinary dish would you prepare?
Stephen Fry as I love his eloquent command of language and his humour. Jimi Hendrix, I’m always fascinated by the almost schizophrenic nature of his personality. He always seemed so polite and shy when been interviewed yet on stage this whole new persona appeared. His music was like this too and as a result was just so unique. Django Reinhardt, a musical genius, pioneers and I’m sure he’d liven things up a bit as he was a tad unpredictable.
I’m vegetarian so it would have to be a veggie dish, I enjoy making pasta although haven’t done it for a bit and is always more exciting than opening a packet of the stuff.
8. What is the best book or books you have read and why?
I really enjoyed reading ‘Room at the Top’ by John Braine; it was a gritty story set in a Northern town. Braine was from Bingley, which is very near from where I’m from so I recognised a lot of the things and places he describes. Also Saturday Night, Sunday Morning by Alan Sillitoe for similar reasons although that was based I think around Nottingham.
9. Tell us 5 interesting and unknown facts about yourself?
I’m trying to learn to play the drums.
I like Irish banjo.
I’m a bit of a closet astronomer.
I have a dachshund called Ruby.
I’m frightened of cows!
10. If you could change one thing about the world what would it be?
So many things, all the obvious ones I suppose. I’d also make euro pop illegal.
Tags: 2009 Edinburgh Fringe, Darren Duston-Bromley, guitar musicians