Phil Donkin - Dimaxis (2023)

This music was recorded in 2005 when I lived in London. This was the first thing I ever attempted on my own and features my first compositions. I’d only left school 2 years prior. It features amazing talent from the UK namely Julian Siegel on Tenor Saxophone and Bass Clarinet, Gareth Lockrane on Flute, George Hart on Drums and Ben Bryant on Percussion. The playing from those musicians on this recording is sublime and they make my slightly naive writing sound way more convincing than it otherwise would.
I was very hungry to learn and improve back then and was very conscious of the fact I was a late starter with jazz and the bass (at this point I’d been playing about 6 years). Being very eager to be able to play and understand very complex music, I wrote pieces that had fiendishly technical elements in order for me to master them. I probably thought music had to be complex to be worth playing. Thankfully that is no longer the case.

It’s also worth mentioning that this was all recorded live in a 4 hour session in a rehearsal space above a snooker hall in North London. Everyone did it for free except the engineer who got a measly 100 pounds…all i could afford.
Naive and ambitious?…yeah but fuck it.

After recording this album I hungrily shopped around for a label. No interest whatsoever. I was even told by some label people that the record was crap. With a little more experience and knowledge I could have possibly found someone not solely up for releasing 'beige' content, and might have been up for giving this music a chance to be heard. But I was discouraged and didn't want to persist.

However, this recording became somewhat of a cult classic among my peers (an mp3 file that went ‘viral’ among the usb sticks) and I received persistent praise from many people. At least this reassured me that the record had some worth and stopped me from throwing it away completely.
In 2005 such as it was, self-releasing was quite rare and for someone as inexperienced as I was, not an attainable option. The record was shelved by me and gathered more dust as the decades went on.
Those outside of the UK might not recognise some of the names on this recording but that’s more down to the nature of how the musicians from there are exported and what opportunities are available to them on an international stage…that’s another subject but I’ll just say many people in that country deserve wider recognition.

After 18 years since this record was made, I’m really fond of it. Mostly because of the other people playing on it. I think there’s an innocence to it and a focus on fun and simply trying to make good music, and not giving a shit what the scene thinks (I didn’t know what that even meant back then)
Yeah I could criticise things like the bass sound and perhaps some naive bass playing or writing….but now i love those things about it. I couldn’t make this record now even I wanted to because i’d get in my own way.
It's where I was at back then.
Sharing music now is really easy...so I'm doing it. Unfortunately so is everyone else so i guess a lot of great music just kind of gets mixed in with the 'beige'....but whatever, it's there for those who are interested.

When I hear this music, I’m reminded of a big part of who I am and where I come from. After so many years of living away from the UK it’s easy to forget certain things.
Whenever I hear any music I always like to know when it was made, where, what was happening in the world then…it helps me put the music into context. So in my world….2005 London social media wasn't really a thing yet…I didn’t own a computer or an mp3 player.

My life was music, gigs, practising, composing…nothing else.…music was enough.