Lionel Loueke - Virgin Forest
Lionel Loueke is someone I have just discovered, around about five years ago. He is based in America I think. I love the freshness of what he is doing and the way the music breathes is just refreshing for me. Completely different. Very refreshing. So when I need to clear my head sometimes, like when I come back from a gig and there is so much music in my head, I need to take what is there and replace it with something else. So I look for this.

And you see, he is from Benin Republic. He's from West Africa, but he has grown up and studied abroad. He has worked with a lot of great musicians. And his use of his roots, combined with his exposure to the international jazz standards, is quite interesting for me to observe and appreciate. You can tell he plays with time signatures too. [sings along] You know? He gives me, as a composer in jazz - always thinking where next I am going to take my music to - this kind of thing; he opens a little portal to have a glimpse into possibilities. Okay, I like what he is doing with the rhythm there. And I'm like: "Yeah, okay." When I have a quartet I want to try some of these things, because I think there are about four people playing.

I love the whole album, so when I put it on I don't listen to one track. On this particular one, I just allow the whole album. Sometimes I put it on repeat for the whole day. It just repeats all day long. It just does the business for me. It realigns me, kind of.