David Pringle: Keyboards and arrangements
When I returned to Glasgow from the US - I was lucky enough to run into Fraser Speirs. Fraser and I are friends from way back - having played together on various TV shows.We started getting together - jamming and working on a common repertoire. 'Once in a Blue Moon' is the result of this collaboration. We asked Neil Warden - a well known highly skilled guitarist to join us. Also the fact that the 3 of us had all played with the late Tam White at different stages of our careers was a common factor.
Brian Paterson was our recording engineer when we worked at STV - luckily he was available to complete our team.
Our musical style is not easy to define - a mixture of Jazz, Rock and R and B -with a look back to the Muscle Shoals Swampers and the Wrecking Crew.
This project has been a pleasure to work on - really hope you enjoy the music.
Fraser Speirs: Harmonica and vocals
My career as a session musician owes a lot to David Pringle, whose patience in guiding me through written charts when I first performed on TV and Radio sessions was invaluable. I performed with a moderately successful band in the mid seventies, covering some of the same repertoire when I first encountered Neil Warden. He was playing with a band from his home town of Dunfermline, already exhibiting an innate understanding of the kind of music which resulted from Jazz musicians crossing over into Funk, R&B and even the sophisticated rock of Steely Dan. We met again in the late 80’s, subsequently touring extensively and recording albums with the late Tam White. When the opportunity arose to revisit some of the material I’d first played for forty five years previously with musicians who are friends as well as much admired colleagues the resulting album could only be… ‘Once in a Blue Moon.
Neil Warden: Guitars
It was a pleasure to be invited by David Pringle to play on these recordings. My initial thoughts were to capture the essence of the guitar greats that played on many West Coast, USA sessions of the 70s; Larry Carlton, Phil Upchurch, Eric Gale, along with blues styles influenced by Cornell Dupree, Kenny Burrell and Johnny Guitar Watson. This was the music I was listening to when I was a teenager and even though it's taken me this long to record, every note has been played with true dedication to those players and styles. Right down to the guitars used and limiting takes down to first or second performance... just like the old days. I hope whoever is listening in enjoys the music, I for one enjoyed the whole musical experience immensely.