 A-One
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A-One's first ever track was "Don't Hold
Your Breath" recorded in keyboard-player Duncan
Millar's then studio
on the twentieth-floor of a South-London high-rise. It featured the
sax-playing of Ramon Layzelle, whom Millar had met at The London School
for the Performing Arts in nearby Croydon. Both shared an avid enthusiasm
for the London acid jazz scene, to which both were frequent contributors.
They also shared a passion for the music of some of jazz and jazz-fusion's
greatest exponents, including Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea and
others too numerous to mention. The track was produced by Millar, who had previously enjoyed a spell of study at Boston's Berklee College and had worked as a session keyboardist with a number of dance-oriented artists such as Larry Heard, Monie Love and Nu Colours, among others. Other musical projects were then taking up time, in particular Millar's own releases on dance-music labels such as Positiva/EMI and Union/Virgin and it was one such label, WOW Records, that gave A-One its first release. WOW had also released tracks by other acid-jazz artists such as Heavy Shift and Diane Brown. It based in Notting Hill, West London, to which area A-One's studio had recently re-located, where it was occasionally made use of by other bands and producers, notably Down to The Bone. WOW put out "West By South West", which became a hit on the acid-jazz club scene in London and also won single-of the-week accolades in the music-press. A-One also began to gig extensively, filled out by ex-Performing Arts School Chris Dodd on bass and Phil White on percussion, a high-point being the Glastonbury Festival. Other tracks had evolved over time and A-One eventually moved from WOW to Indochina Records, a subsidiary of Warner Bros., which had also signed the group Morcheeba. There were two more single releases, "Take Me to the Casbah" and "Wait, Wait, Wait" and finally an album "Free Association". Tracks from the album were also included on U.S. Compilation albums on different labels, and also attracted Hollywood film sound-track offers. Millar also has released his own solo album on Instinct Records, NYC, entitled "Dream Your Dream". Free Association by A-One was recently released properly for the first tine in the USA on Trippin' in Rhythm Records, Chicago, with the first single "West By South West" released to radio in Sept 1999. More informations about Duncan Millar
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