in this blog i want to portray pete fletcher, a guitarist and producer from scotland, UK. he is the owner of the label “Nu-Jazz Europe” and a member of the network NuJazzConnect. in this interview he give a deep insight in his musical world and concepts. for further information visit www.nu-jazz.net

Q: short biographie?

A: Started life in music as a guitarist in a Rock and Roll band in the early 60’s. Travelling around Scotland in an old Bedford van playing all kinds of uninteresting venues. Meeting up with like minded musicians who were all trying to make their mark in the music business. Then I heard Wes Montgomery and his music changed my whole way of thinking, getting into Jazz/Blues playing in a number of small Jazz groups. Listening to Miles Davis, Yusef Latif, John Maclaughlan, Chick Corea, Weather Report, Mike Stern, John Abercrombie and the Art Ensemble of Chicago etc etc made me realise that music is a lifetime journey and certainly not for the faint hearted and I decided to enlist for the duration.

I managed to join Big Bands and that helped me develop some discipline in reading charts. Moved into a smaller and more free playing progressive jazz groups.

About two years ago I was introduced to Raymond MacDonald and his approach to music pushed me into another direction welcome to the world of improv jazz.

Currently I’ve been rehearsing a new quartet (flute, electric guitar, laptop, guitar synth and FX pedals, Double Bass and Drums) and I spend a lot of my time developing new projects for my independent record label Nu-Jazz Europe.

Q: your all time favourite tunes?

A: 1: Miles Davis/Gil Evans “Sketches of Spain” A totally groundbreaking jazz album, don’t think there has been anything to surpass that since.

2: Miles Davis “Tutu” another milestone (excuse the pun) in jazz.

3: John Abercrombie “Open Land” with violinist Marc Feldman an incredible piece of work.

4: Mike Stern Tipantina’s have a DVD of Mike Stern in Paris playing this piece and it’s better than the original CD recording. Mind you working live with Richard Bona, Dennis Chambers and Bob Franceschini means it’s always gonna sound great!

There’s tons more but I’d run out of space.

Q:your label nu-jazz europe?

A: Nu-Jazz Europe music label came out of a previous label Sub-Urban Collective, we produced an album of original music based on stories written about the city of Glasgow. We tried to follow that up with an album of Scottish musicians creating their individual versions of Gil Scott Heron songs. We talked and met with Gil in New York and got his approval on the project but through unforseen events the project was never completed. So out of frustration I embarked on Nu-Jazz Europe. The philosophy of the label was to create a free environment for musicians, composers and artists to collaborate and experiment with new ideas in music and with considerable help from Raymond MacDonald (One of Scotland’s leading improv jazz musicians) we embarked on our first album “OTHER VOICES” combining the spoken word and jazz improvisation. Raymond teamed up with Aoife Mannix a poet and author and we produced this album over 2 days in the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow. (The album has been received with critical acclaim.) The latest album (just released) called “CITIES” features the talents of three Scottish musicians, Raymond MacDonald, Neil Davidson and Tom Bancroft fusing with two Japanese improv musicians, Satoko Fujii and Natsuki Tamura. It’s a really exciting album and it’s now available on CDbaby.com and soon will be available from iTunes and specialist download sites.

We have lots of other collaborative ideas in the pipeline and hopefully some of them will come to fruition early next year.

Q: your definition of nu-jazz?

A: Now that’s a really hard one to answer, jazz is so many things to so many people…as is the term nuJazz. My own interpretation is bringing together a combination of unusual sounds from unrestricted sources, which can be structured or unstructured in a way that when fused together create an audio/musical challenge to the listener.

Q: your new album falling?

A: After releasing “Last Man Standing” which was a walk through my family history, I found it difficult to accept that I had become the last man standing in my family. The new album “Falling” will be representative of the first phase of my emotional journey after the realisation that I had become the last man standing. To date I’ve completed 3 songs and have lots of random conceptual ideas that will eventually become 7 songs in total. Looks like my original release date was over ambitious and the album will probably take me into end October to complete.

Q: your future and suggestions for producers in nu-jazz?

A: Keep one’s mind open to new ideas, respect unusual material that on first listen may be difficult to understand, and don’t be afraid to take chances.