#dingwallscamden

Giles Peterson, creator of acid jazz and influential underground DJ, live at the Phonox. 

My whole childhood has been shaped by my father’s taste in music. It’s what I heard on road trips, on the way to school, when we hosted a party and the many many times when he started singing. My father is a deep well of knowledge on everything music. He spouts fun facts and stories about each and every artist he listens to. His taste ranges from classic rock to smooth jazz to ska to super eclectic, off the beaten path DJs and many more. He is the type of music lover to throw his old iPods (the silver one with the touch dial to change the music) on shuffle and listen to it all. He even keeps with that old iPod model because it has so much storage for his huge collection of music. So when he came to visit me during my study in London, his eyes were constantly full of wonder at all the musical history. 

The video above was the result of a couple different events. The first was that my family and I had lunch at Dingwalls in Camden Town, an iconic live music venue with names such as The Rolling Stones, The Sex Pistols, Blondie and the Foo Fighters gracing the grounds in past days. Another name that made my father perk up was Giles Peterson. Dingwalls was “THE PLACE” that Giles created acid jazz, I found out as my father repeated that fact numerous times that day. This led to him looking Giles up and finding out that he was actually preforming that night over in Brixton. My father practically went into fangirl mode. He had only ever heard recordings of Giles and this opportunity was too good to pass up. Since my sister was too young for the club and someone needed to watch her, the night turned into a fun father-daughter event.

My father and I had a great time grooving to the beats and dancing in the laser lights. But one comment that my father made really stuck out to me, “I don’t see anyone my age here.” He was partially true. The majority of the crowd was younger adults probably somewhere in their late 20s, early 30s, but there were some older adults mixed within them. I thought that this was interesting because the type of music that Giles Peterson produced, or at least how my father had described him didn’t seem like it would attract such a young audience. Not only had the audience changed, but the music had changed as well. A fresh techno beat had been woven in behind the African drums and cool piano sounds of Giles original jazz composition. Now there was a beat, a beat specifically for the audience to dance to. 

Music is an ever changing creation. It moves with the times, people and culture. It is always willing to go through a metamorphosis to make itself available to the next audience who walks up to the stage. That’s what Giles did with his music, he added the dancing beat to his jazz so that the younger audiences would come to appreciate his mixing and stay for the grooves. 

Some people reject these changes, always yearning for the “original” or “classic” sound. Personally, I think that it is the true music lover that can change alongside the music, developing new tastes and following new artists. To remain static is to remain boring, the world will always be changing, so don’t fight it. Instead, learn to enjoy the changes and new discoveries the world has to offer. 

My father and I sure did.