How did you get into music? When did you start reading music? When did you start playing bass? When did you become a professional musician? How did you start playing with Jools Holland? How did you switch from upright to bass guitar in Jools Holland’s band? What’s your approach to playing so many high-profile sessions with world famous musicians? Have you worked with any of your musical heroes? How do you choose the right bass for each gig or studio session? What amps do you use and why? What do you practice and how does your technique change between upright and electric bass? Did you even play with Squeeze?
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Can you actually remember the moment you turned pro?

DS Not really, I just did it. It was all freelance work, gigs, shows, radio jingles, TV themes, sessions etc. I picked up session work very quickly because of my sight-reading skills. I really enjoyed the discipline of having to read and interpret charts. I was also playing in a couple of funk bands, but I was earning a better living by having music put in front of me.

Were you playing any jazz?

DS I was playing in big bands, but for me there was little room for improvisation. I guess I could have gone looking for jazz gigs, and sat in with people, but I was earning a good living and had a good reputation doing what I was doing. So at that time I was playing three instruments and I just realized I was getting much more work as a bass player, there was nothing wrong with my trombone playing, but there was obviously more call for bass players, especially guys who could read. So for the next few years, I continued to live and work in the Midlands, but then started to get calls to work abroad and travel around the world and travel the world I did, several times over.

What was your formative experience with getting to grips with improvising and jazz etc?

DS I guess it didn’t really start until I moved to London at the end of 1988. I’d had enough of all the gigs and work I’d been involved with up till that point. I wanted to be playing creative music, improvising, working with jazz musicians. It was a big risk to take because I knew I would be practically starting from scratch in a new town, and new environment, but I had to do it. I made a promise to myself not to take on any work that resembled what I’d been doing previously. I needed a fresh start, so I went to jam sessions, and did as many jazz gigs as I could, but my ears were not that well developed, so I spent all my time learning jazz standards, listening to jazz recordings, transcribing bass lines and solos, and studying jazz harmony. It was hard work, and I was playing with musicians that I was sometimes intimidated by, but it was all part of the steep learning curve. I also took some bass lessons with Michael Moore, a wonderful jazz double bassist from America who was living over here at the time. We covered everything from left hand technique, thumb position, bowing, melodic playing, I wish I’d known him ten years earlier.