Session Diary - The Big Band

Session guitarist Adam Goldsmith found his feet as a fledgling guitarist in a big band format, and those skills continue to serve him well today.

- Adam Goldsmith

Two more opposing weeks I couldn’t wish for! Next week, I’ll begin recording my first solo album. This week, however, the advertising industry is my main employer. There’ll be a few different jingles, two of which involve playing with a big band. This is probably the most useful skill I never intended to acquire, and one which has unwittingly enabled me to play with many different artists, from Robbie Williams and the Pop Idol series, to Michael Bublé and the Ronnie Scott’s Big Band.

Like a lot of guitar players, I started off listening mostly to rock and blues, and The Beatles and Stones from my parents’ record collection, until someone at my school suggested I try the local youth big band, as they didn’t currently have a guitar player. I distinctly remember turning up, full of the 15-year-old rock guitar player confidence, and then watching helplessly as the bandleader counted the chart in and the pages flew by, with me, no idea where we were, merely a dazed bystander.

My other memory from that fairly embarrassing experience is seeing the instruction ‘à la Freddie Green’ at the top of most of the charts. ‘Who the hell is this guy?