‘ReWorks Vol.2’ is a treasure trove of musical influences. The listening experience is rather unique and peculiar, with Neil C. Young applying jazz stylings and fusion eclecticism to unsuspecting pop and rock material. Featuring four popular covers, the EP showcases the Manchester-based guitarist’s ability to immerse himself into limitless territories, looking at music with uncategorised lenses – simply following his instincts and musical taste.
A proficient musician and enlightened composer, Young is an integral part of the British jazz underground landscape. Intrigued by the project, we caught up with him to find out more about his artistry and future goals… interview below!
Hey Neil! how is it going? congrats on the record, one for the jazz and fusion heads. The writer of this article spent a slice of his teenage years studying jazz drums, so we appreciate the experimental flair behind the EP. How would you define yourself? a jazz guitarist?
Hi, thank you. All good ta! Ooo, I would say yes but, a jazz fusion guitarist. There was a spell back a few years when I started to take the guitar way more seriously in which I just wanted to be a straight-ahead jazz player, but as much as I have loved and listened to jazz I’ve naturally been drawn to the fusion stylings of jazz and how they are working alongside each other, namely Latin and rock, and then adding into that the explorations into the freer forms of improvised music, so, yeah, narrow it down further to a fusion guitarist (although that may still not be that narrow…?!?)
Your current work is the result of a long journey; Can you shed some light on your learning process? Also, are there any figures that greatly influenced you? (We’ll try to guess: how about John Scofield?)
Ha ha! I have listened to a fair chunk of John Scofield but not as much as some others! It all started really when I began playing the violin and that then took me into the orchestral world when I progressed onto the viola through my formative years and so I got very familiar with harmonic, structural and compositional worlds through being immersed in that environment from a young age before then sidestepping from there into studying the guitar, and at that point, it was very much my goal to be a jazz guitarist but as mentioned earlier, I became more and more involved in the compositional side of things which has been a constant ever since.
Thinking back on what music I have consistently listened to and therefore consider direct influences would be the solo violin sonatas and partita’s (J.S.Bach), Metal Fatigue (Allan Holdsworth), Road To You (Pat Metheny), Funky Thide of Sings (Billy Cobham), Something Else (Cannonball Adderley), Nancy Wilson/Cannonball Adderley, Porgy and Bess, Birth of the Cool (Miles Davis/Gil Evans) Long to be loose (Wayne Krantz), Belonging (Keith Jarrett) and The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion (The Black Crowes).
Those are the records and artists that I keep returning to for rest, recuperation and inspiration. I’m beginning to also realise that the current ReWorks project is opening up a new avenue of influence and that is the track itself, instead of pulling lots of things from outside to create, looking within a track to then create out from it, brings and enables it’s own influences to be heard. I’ve been asked recently about my influences, they have been Krautrock and country but I have never listened specifically to these styles or artists, so the question of influence is huge and also reflects the listener’s influences as much as the creators. Sorry, I may have gone off on one there, I’ll pause that for now!
If you had the opportunity to pick any musician (ever existed, dead or alive) for a trio/quartet/quintet – who would they be?
Stevie Wonder (whatever he wants), Jon Christensen (Drums), Elis Regina, (Vocals), Esperanza Spalding (Bass/Vocals)
You recently released an eclectic piece of musical prowess, ‘Reworks Vol.2’ – what’s the main concept behind it?
This EP is part of a project spread over 4 volumes where I’ve taken tracks and looked and listened within them to find a hook, line or feel that is at work but in the background or not as prominent as other elements and then flipped it, so that it is one of if not the main feature of a new ‘ReWorked’ version with the chosen track now placed in a different musical landscape, but still true to it’s intention.
You choose four popular tracks for the reworks – why them?
‘A Mouse Lived in A Windmill In Old Amsterdam’ is a song that I’ve known for all my life it was originally classed as a ‘novelty’ single as a Waltz, about a lil’ mouse with clogs on sung by Ronnie Hilton, but when I decided to spend some quality time with it I was in a middle of a ‘play everything Bossa’ phase and this track has a certain melodic structure that lent itself to 4/4 bossa and so it has stuck. (Although since recording it, it has morphed again and the lil’ mouse with clogs on has added a funk element to its outfit!?!)
Track 2, ‘Troublemaker’ by Olly Murs was a suggestion that took my interest as the riff in the bridge/pre-chorus stood out as being something to build on and so that became the new underpinning motif. Plus, the harmony of the original is pretty cool to play over!
Track 3 is the Marvin Gaye song ‘What’s Going On?’ and it’s such a great track. We were learning it as it is, in 4/4 but I slowly but surely was being drawn towards 6/8 for the band to play it in, I think that in the original vocal performance, there’s s suggestion of 6 and a very open and free delivery which has obviously now, been bubbling away in my brain and it has emerged with the trio and the way we play it.
Finally, track 4 and ‘Miss You’ by Gabrielle Aplin was a track choice by a student in an arranging class I taught a while back and it caught my attention for two elements, one of which was the inclusion of a bar of 3 in the chorus rather than continuing with the 4/4 and then the repeating vocal line at the breakdowns with the line ‘will you be my best friend…’. I used the single bar of 3 and then worked out to play the whole thing 3 and then flipped the idea from the original version and had a single bar of 4 at the end of the chorus also with the ol’ flipperoo idea, the 4/4 feel is used as a single closing section at the end of our arrangement. The vocal line I mentioned is responsible for providing our intro chords, the riff when the full band comes in and also provides the harmonic accompaniment for the drum solo in the middle. It is also heard at the very end of the guitar part when the time switches back to the original 4/4. There are a lot of technical aspects – I admit it – I hope that the emotional element of the song is still present and is more obvious than the bits and pieces I’ve mentioned.
How’s the Jazz scene in Manchester btw? Is there anywhere where you love performing your material?
Vibrant I would say, there’s a really good range of jazz happening and some great players as always. I wouldn’t say I’m fully immersed in it so all I’d say is go check it out, you won’t be disappointed!
Artistically speaking, what challenges have the last two years presented you with?
It’s mainly been with having the technical skills to play what I wish to play and convey. This is mainly linked to when I’m improvising and finding the limits of what I can do as I’m at the moment of ‘that’s where I want to go next….’ but my fingers don’t quite make it. This, in turn, creates the next (and ongoing challenge…) of what and how to practice to enable me to express myself fully, until of course the next time this thing happens, which it does, dammit!
What are the next steps for your project? Anything exciting on the horizon?
We’ve been playing tracks from all the 4 ReWorks volumes at our gigs for a while now but I have got some more coming up in May that will be with a different set of musicians that I usually play with, which will be cool. I’m down in Birmingham, Newark, Watford and then Leeds in May so it will be exciting to hear and see how they respond to the arrangements. As well as that, ReWorks Vol. 3 is in mid-production and is set for an October release all being well so lots of good stuff happening. I can’t complain, if I do then someone, please give us a dig in the ribs!
