John Etheridge - Desert Island Risks: incendiary tracks that have fired me up

Here, we present at our invitation, guests revealing 8 tracks that have had great importance in their lives and careers. Which recorded pieces fired them up to become musicians? Which tracks have influenced their careers?

We begin with John Etheridge: an influential guitarist to many, himself, whose career has seen him work with a glittering array of stars, including major stints with Stéphane Grappelli, Soft Machine, Andy Summers, Nigel Kennedy and John Williams.

“I’ve chosen these 8 tracks for the profound influence they had on me and my desire to play the guitar and my development and direction of travel on the instrument.”

1) The Savage - The Shadows

I can still remember being utterly mind blown by the appearance of the Shadows, playing this tune, in the film ‘The Young Ones’, which I saw at the age of 12...The Red Stratocaster, the Dance Steps, the Sound of the guitar ….I was hooked and started playing the next day!

2) Swanee River - Django Reinhardt

Around 1963, my best mate at school, played me an album that his Dad had made him listen to. It was by an unlikely-sounding person ‘Django Reinhardt ‘. Django, of course, is a study forever, but at that age and on first hearing it was the astoundingly fast Swanee River that had my 15 yr old jaw dropping. The arrangement sounds rather quaint now ..but those amazing chromatic runs etc …a guitarist for the whole of life.

3)  Wee Baby Blues (from the album Folk Festival of the Blues 1963)  - Muddy Waters.  

The 12 bars solo by Buddy Guy was the first really visceral blues solo I heard. A searing sound and powerful phrasing. This sparked a love of the Blues which parallelled my love of Reinhardt. Fusing these influences was to become my goal.

4) Steppin’ Out - Eric Clapton (John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers)

There is no doubt that Clapton, vintage ’65,’66, was along with Charlie Christian and Chuck Berry, the most influential guitarist who ever lived. It was he that single-handedly invented the modern rock/blues guitar sound. The happy and fortuitous combination of the Gibson Les Paul (a previously completely shunned guitar) and the Marshall JPM 45 produced a sound that NOBODY had heard. I couldn’t believe it. For the first time, the guitar sang like a vocalist and immediately a million imitators launched themselves. Only Steve Howe, Albert Lee and Robert Fripp, of the guitarists that followed soon after, were impervious ..everyone else, however now lauded, was following Eric’s lead.

The solo on Stepping Out is an absolute masterpiece, recorded when Clapton was a few days past his 21st birthday. Harmonically it’s obviously simple ..but the immaculate phrasing, the rhythmic poise, the superb tone, the control of vibrato and the way the solo builds make this a timeless gem, long after the novelty of the sound has worn off.

5) All along the Watchtower  - Jimi Hendrix

This has always been my favourite Hendrix track. It’s the first tune on the list where the guitars are overdubbed. There is a divine opening phrase and then a number of guitar choruses, each one perfectly constructed with a different tone and feel, building to a top C sharp as the track fades. Brilliant use of the studio, and the limited effects available, as well as sublime guitar playing.

6)  Binky’s Beam - John Mclaughlin ( from the album Extrapolation)

An album that took me to another direction. In the Clapton/Hendrix era I, like most people, could hardly bear to listen to straight Jazz Guitar -so lightweight and inexpressive. When I heard Extrapolation I thought - Jazz guitar with balls!! This album has wonderfully rough, but powerful, surging, guitar work and astounding drums from Tony Oxley. The track Binky’s Beam has a blues feel with odd time signature and yet a very organic feel… Great album  

7) In a Silent Way/shh peaceful - Miles Davis

This cemented my re-engagement with Jazz. The dense textures of keyboards, chords moving around over a pedal point bass, swirling, oblique and ambivalent - the fleeting appearances of soloists (including McLaughlin ) from inside the texture and the implacable underpinning from the drums, produced something very fresh. Not linear, but textural, Jazz.

8)  Give it all away - Ollie Halsall (Hold Your Fire - Patto)

I got to London in 1970 and was doing ok. In March 1971 I was listening to the radio and heard a BBC ‘In Concert ‘ and this guy started up …It was one of those moments where you hear someone doing what you’ve been trying to do… and he’s there!! It was the first time I’d heard a legato approach like this (in fact it was the first anyone had heard) - fluent lines allied to a great overdrive guitar sound. This was the uncelebrated but immortal Ollie Halsall, whose star burnt bright for a short time. This recorded solo from 1971 is genuinely, in that overworn phrase, ‘ahead of its time’ When I was told I should be raving about Eddie Van Halen in 1978 (Eruption), I was completely reminded of Ollie (I’m sure VH hadn’t heard him - nobody had). In fact so unknown was he that when I mentioned him as an influence in an interview I did for American Guitar Player magazine, they cut out the reference to him… never heard of him, so we won’t mention him (bit of a vicious circle that!).

You can find out more about Ollie Halsall at The Ollie Halsall Archive.