Stiff Promotions

JOHN and Sarah have been together now for around a quarter of a century.

She's nearly twice his age but he definitely wears the trousers. They rarely spend time apart and their relationship gets stronger by the day.

In their most intimate moments, she nestles comfortably into his shoulder, responding to his every caress, together in perfect harmony.

John says the partnership is for life - 'till death us do part.

Sarah' is singer song writer John Lester's double bass and the ‘other woman' in his life.

He was smitten from the day they first met.

"I played her and loved her immediately. I loved her sound and the action was really easy. Basses can be real difficult but I never want another instrument."

Their on-stage love affair - just John and Sarah in front of a microphone - is bearing fruit.

Now Amsterdam-based, via London and Paris, Californian John has just released his third solo album So Many Reasons.

He's supporting Gretchen Peters at 12 shows in England this summer - and another UK tour is lined up for the late autumn.

Two songs from the new album have also just won top prizes in the International Song Writers' Contest in the US.

John, happily married to Lisa and proud father of seven-month-old son Kai, has won acclaim on his international globetrotting.

He's been a working bassist most of his adult life but only ventured into the solo scene in his mid 30s.

He's since been likened to Sting, Van Morrison and rock eccentric John Martyn.

But you might as well add Sven Goran Eriksson and Fatty Arbuckle to that list for all the good it would do you, such is the diversity of his music.

Sets explore rock, blues, funk, folk, reggae, Latin, new age, jazz and world music.

Commentators herald him as a "rare combination of soul, poetry and conviction". His trademark voice sounds like it has been crafted from silk and granite all at the same time.

In a sea of singer song writers, John's solo show with a double bass is not unique. But he is navigating rarely charted waters.

Over early morning breakfast of croissant and eggs, John casts a loving eye over Sarah and explains how she is named after legendary jazz singer Sarah Vaughan.

"She has the same lyrical quality - she sounds so much like a vocal."

Sarah's personality became crystal clear when Lester went solo.

"It is like another person up there on the stage with me - a partner standing up, being held by me, everything about her feels like a personality.

"There are times when I do shows where I can't bring the double bass and I really miss her.

"It's a whole different situation without Sarah there. It's worth me doing everything I can to make sure Sarah is at a show, even booking another seat on the train if necessary."

Many of the key events in John's musical career - including discovering the double bass and setting out solo - have come about by accident or coincidence.

Some might call it fate but he has more pragmatic explanations.

He played trumpet in the school jazz band - which gave him access to his first electric bass.

"The school had a bass and some friends in a band said if I could get it, I could be in their rock band," he explained.

"I enjoyed the trumpet but it wasn't until I picked up the bass that I was motivated to go further."

Years later, working in a number of bands in a small town between San Francisco and Los Angeles, the school band connection worked again.

"I was one of the more proficient bassists in the town - a big fish in a very small pond - and this guy called Fletcher Peck needed a bass player in his jazz band.

"Fletcher was a real, real character. Big jowls - the real deal. He'd played in the Charlie Parker era in New York.

"This was the real thing. I showed up with my electric bass but they wanted a double bass player.

"There was one at school I could borrow. I got it, put a bunch of tape on the sides where the notes were and practised for about a week.

"I think I sounded terrible because there are no frets and I hadn't played fretless before.

"My intonation was probably horrible and besides, by the end of the week I had blisters all over my fingers."

Fletcher and the boys liked what they heard and encouraged by their words, John took lessons and honed his technique.

"It was an intimidating experience because these guys were the real deal.

"But playing in that band every week really taught me the feel of the music."

Fast forward another decade - via a successful career as a bassist in the Bay area of San Francisco - and coincidence, or fate, strikes again.

Says John: "My own band broke up and I started doing these open mic contests and won a few.

"But this was with a guitar and I discovered the solo bass thing completely by accident.

"There was a jam at the end of an open mic and someone got up, he was completely drunk, and started doing crazy stuff on bass.

"He didn't sing but was playing a song I knew the words to so I jumped up there and sang while he played bass.

"That really got me thinking and the next week I played a little blues tune with just my voice and the bass. It was like a revelation.

"When I got up to play the whole room quieted down because it was so odd to see a guy standing there with a double bass and a microphone.

"The reaction from the audience told me this was something I really should explore.

"Everything else up to that stage had been a learning experience but none of them really had the spark.

"It was really entertaining but it was also just being myself. It was the instrument I felt most comfortable with. It was like discovering myself."

John had been writing his own music for some time and set about arranging his songs for double bass.

The response of audiences in the Bay area encouraged him to explore the electric base and the different styles of music he experienced in the past.

"I've found that the average person doesn't really know what the bass sounds like. In a band, the bass just melds in and holds everything together - if it's missing, people know.

"My show isn't about being flash with the bass, it's more like the band's just gone.

"It's a really beautiful, lyrical instrument. I can just hang on a note and it sings.

"It's that melding of my voice and the lyrical quality of the instrument. But it's more than a novelty. The show has to be deeper to keep an audience for 30 minutes or an hour.

"I would liken it to an acapello gig. The voice does hang there more. It is very exposed.

"But that helped me because I needed to come out of a shell. I had always been the side man hanging around with the drummer in bands and now I was a front man."

The diversity of John's music comes from his previous life as a jobbing bassist.

"I was learning all those different styles so as a writer I feel they are different colours and a different story.

"It has made it a little hard to say what record bin you would put me in but I enjoy the different styles.

"It's like painting a picture and I can go there with the lyrics and bring in the different styles."

Another major staging post in his career was deciding to pitch his own songs to publishers.

It was among the hardest lessons he learned....but vital to his development as a song writer.

"First time my songs were played for a publisher I had quite the vision of grandeur," he said.

"I thought my song was the best ever; he would love it, publish it and someone would pick it up.

"He turned it off after about a minute and a half and started ripping in to all sorts of different things.

"I was really hit hard by this. I could have been crushed by it but it was good to get real feedback from someone like that rather than my friends all saying I was wonderful.

"Pitching for publishing is where I really learned the craft of song writing. You have the inspiration and that's the thing that's hard to explain.

"There's a magic but you also need the craft to work together with the inspiration.

"I learned the importance of the lyric and how every single word is so important - hey, you only have about three and half minutes.

"You've got to capture people right away. What I love about song writing is that there is a kind of a puzzle to it.

"There are so many ways of looking at it and you can go off in all different directions.

"That's when the hard work starts."

ends