The Beat Surrender

Still feeling rather privileged and thoroughly blown away upon hearing an early, pre-mastered copy of his forthcoming album, I caught up with Samuel Thornton just days before he hits Abbey Road Studios on just one more of his many musical projects, all of which are rich in quality and class. More about these later though my friends!

That warm, welcoming charm that exudes from this artist’s extraordinary voice is fortunately also carried by the man himself and I’m instantly put at ease from my ‘heebie-jeebies’, which I can only suggest is down to admiration and respect for an incredible local talent. I don’t often get ‘star-struck’, as such, but that’s just a testament to what Mr Thornton is producing right now. Yes, it’s that damn good!

We start where things should and Sam tells me of how it all began, “From birth and onwards I spent a lot of time at my Grandparent’s, where I’d sit and listen to Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Count Basie. All the great swinging stuff! I suppose it was more Jazz and Big Bands than Blues at that point”

An impressionable youngster he must have been, with his voice taking on an unmistakable similarity to the great Satchmo himself. He tells me of beginning guitar at 10 and getting heavily into Hendrix and Clapton before “trying to learn their songs and licks by ear”.

This primary period also saw him picking up Clarinet and Saxophone, which features heavily in all he does today whilst a “larger than life Art teacher” Austin Danks (“Danksy”), inspired him to take things further with his “enthusiastic stories of playing with The Savages and Screamin’ Lord Sutch in the 60’s and 70’s. I made a conscious decision at this point to listen to as many styles of music as possible and that’s partly why there are so many different influences on my album. I’m trying everything at the moment. Variety, as they say, is the spice of life!!”

Around this time he also got involved with the Leeds Youth Jazz Rock Orchestra, honing his Sax skills and introducing him to Big Bands which he still partakes in a lot still. He speaks highly of Doncaster Jazz Orchestra with whom he travelled to New York and played at the United Nations. The prize winning Sax section being the reason he’s recording at the aforementioned, legendary Abbey Road. Exciting times!!

He elaborates further on his present situation, “Since graduating in Jazz at Leeds College of Music I’ve been training to be a classroom music teacher. It’s given me a new burst of enthusiasm for all kinds of music and is a great environment to be in. Working in schools I’ve discovered Grime and Bassline, It’s keeping me on my toes!!”

Apart from the obvious influences on him, Sam explains to me some of his cardinal inspirations, some more understandable than others!

“Tom Waits is a legend, there’s not a single song of his that I dislike and he’s pretty prolific! He has such a range of styles on his albums and of course, there’s his amazing turn of phrase and lyrics.”

I’m surprised to learn that S.T doesn’t actively listen to lyrics, finding himself drawn in to focus on melody and harmony usually, yet he doesn’t have a problem by any means with Waits’ forceful, yet playful way of singing.
He continues with passion when describing Steely Dan, Count Basie Orchestra and especially Ray Charles, “What can I say, the man could really SING! I think one Ray Charles is worth ten Stevie Wonders and that’s saying something!!” Now that is a bold statement, from a bold character but I have to disagree with him for the first and only time during our chat!

Naming Frank Zappa’s 80’s outfit as the band he would have most loved to be a part of though is undeniably, more concrete proof of the eclectic nature of this man, who’s new album ‘Easy Street’ is to be released this summer (hopefully August) and will shake your soul to its very core. I can confidently assure you this but if you need extra facts on top of the amazing tasters on his Myspace, then it is being mastered by Grammy winning Gavin Lurssen in Hollywood, who’s also handled work by Tom Waits, Quincy Jones, Count Basie and Elvis Costello to name just a few!!

Bradford based IVOLV are the label handling the release and they recently put out the maiden single, ‘Wine, Women & Song’ which has been doing really well, “especially” Sammy adds proudly, “quite surprisingly, overseas in places like Australia, Poland, Denmark and France!!” It’s a track that just screams out to be heard NOW and I personally can relate to it wholeheartedly, which I’m sure many of you will also!

Straight up, stripped down acoustic Blues with soaring trumpet and that voice, oh, that voice! It sounds like it’s been treated with Bourbon forever to add to that raw feeling that he captures and rolls out so effortlessly. Does he medicate the tones “I get asked that a lot but I don’t really drink much Whiskey, if it’s there then I will, but my drink of choice is Rum. I used to spend a lot of time (and money!) in The Wardrobe cocktail bar and at one point they had 62 different varieties of Rum. I’ve tried them all, so if you need a Rum recommendation then just ask! While you’re at it, mine’s a Mojito!!”

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