Steve Lawson is not only an excellent bassist but also someone I would count as a personal friend – not someone right at the heart of my life but certainly someone I can kick back and enjoy a drink or a curry once in a while (note to Steve – must do that again sometime soon!).

I actually have quite a few of his albums – the complete catalogue of his own releases – but what about his influence on me as a jazz bassist? Some of it has been the fact that I have taken some lessons with him where part of the study has been questions like “what on earth is an ‘alt’ chord?”. Most of it though comes from the recommendations he has made about reference books, examples of the gear he uses (six string basses and, for a while, he was using the same kind of Line 6 DL-4 pedal that was a boon to me in exploring melody set against looped harmony) and, above all, the encouragement to experiment, grow and develop.