Jools Holland’s man Swifty rolls with the punches

I recently finished a two-week residency with British singersongwriter Rebecca Ferguson, who rose to fame on The X Factor.

With my TV and live work, I’m usually sent recordings to work from, but with Rebecca I was told that arrangements would be provided. From working with her previously I knew that these would consist of generic lead sheets with chords and cues for piano and guitar – better than nothing, but not bass-specific. The set-list included some familiar covers, and three of Rebecca’s originals. None of it was too challenging, but I wanted to scrutinise ‘Never Too Much’ with Marcus Miller on bass. I transcribed the bass part, then transposed it up a fourth to suit Rebecca’s voice.

The night before the first gig, I received a revised setlist. ‘Never Too Much’ had been scrapped, and two Bob Marley songs added. There was only a short rehearsal the following day, a few hours before the first gig. It was pretty chaotic. As before, I was given basic chord charts with no bass-lines. Throughout the rehearsal, music was being rewritten, chord charts scribbled over, keys changed, photocopies printed off and taped together – all a few minutes before stage time! Thankfully the band’s experience and professionalism prevailed, even when Rebecca deviated from the arrangements.

I wasn’t happy with playing the Bob Marley songs from just a chord chart, so the next day I spent hours listening to recordings and doing detailed transcriptions of the bass-lines. This was timeconsuming, as the parts were more elaborate than I expected. Then Rebecca dropped those songs from the set – at least she reinstated them for later gigs, so my efforts were not entirely in vain.

Things don’t always run smoothly in this industry, and it’s easy for stress to set in, but even challenging situations like this one provide opportunities for musical growth. See you next month!