Taking Stock: The Working Principles Behind My Projects
Every so often, I need to stop producing, performing, organising and planning long enough to ask a more fundamental question:
Does the way I work still reflect the person I intend to be?
It is easy to assess progress through visible activity: recordings completed, concerts played, releases distributed, collaborations formed and projects sustained.
Those achievements matter. However, activity alone does not tell me whether the work remains aligned with the principles that originally gave it direction.
After thirty years of Redtenbacher’s Funkestra, alongside Masterlink Sessions, RSB Records, production, education and work with other artists, this feels like an appropriate moment to take stock.
This is not intended as a manifesto or a claim to have found a definitive way of working. It is a professional checkpoint.
The purpose is to compare the principles I believe in with the evidence of how I actually work:
-Which principles are still useful?
-Which need to be refined?
-Have any become habits that should be questioned?
-What should guide the next stage of the work?
Values and working principles are meaningful only when they influence decisions. Otherwise, they become decorative language attached to a website or biography.
The music comes before the individual
I do not see music primarily as a vehicle for placing myself at the centre.
My role as a bassist, composer, producer or bandleader is to serve the composition, support the musicians and help the collective result become stronger than any individual contribution.
That does not mean suppressing personality. Some of the best Funkestra and Masterlink Sessions recordings work precisely because the musicians sound distinctly like themselves.
The objective is not uniformity. It is to give strong individual voices a meaningful place within a coherent piece of work.
This principle is particularly connected to how I understand the bass. The instrument can shape an entire performance without continually demanding attention. It connects rhythm and harmony, provides direction and helps the music around it function.
The same applies to leadership. Leadership does not always require standing at the front. It can mean establishing the purpose, bringing the right people together and creating the circumstances in which they can do their best work.
However, this principle needs balance.
Placing the music first must not become an excuse for undervaluing my contribution, avoiding difficult decisions or leaving authorship unclear.
The aim is not self-erasure. It is proportion.
Connect the parts and strengthen the whole
The bass connects rhythm, harmony and melody. Over time, I have realised that this also describes much of my work away from the instrument.
I enjoy connecting musicians, ideas, disciplines and projects.
Masterlink Sessions is a clear example. A session may involve an artist, a studio, a production team, a group of musicians, a filmmaker and a release strategy. Each part may be strong individually, but the project succeeds only when those elements are connected around a clear purpose.
The same principle applies to the Funkestra. The band has never been about assembling interchangeable players. The identity of the music comes from the relationship between the writing and the particular musicians performing it.
I am less interested in isolated displays of ability (although at times this can be fun too) than in how the parts affect one another.
A good musician can improve a recording. The right combination of musicians can transform it.
However, connection must not become overextension. Not every person, idea or opportunity needs to be brought into the same structure.
Sometimes strengthening the whole requires deciding what not to include.
Describe the work confidently, but do not inflate it
I remain uncomfortable with exaggerated promotional language.
Not every release is groundbreaking. Not every performance is extraordinary. Not every musician needs to be described as a genius, and not every project is the most important work anyone has ever produced.
I would rather explain honestly how the work came about, identify what is distinctive about it and allow the quality of the result to justify the attention it receives.
That does not mean refusing to promote the work.
Independent artists and organisations cannot release something quietly and assume the right audience will discover it by accident. Good work still needs context, communication and support.
The principle therefore needs to be more precise:
Describe the work confidently, but do not inflate it.
There is a difference between hype and clarity. There is also a difference between humility and making worthwhile work unnecessarily difficult to find.
Remain open to the possible self
Bassist, composer, producer, bandleader and educator are all accurate descriptions of things I do. None of them describes the whole person.
Music, production, education, technology, organisation and creative development may appear to be separate activities, but for me they are connected by curiosity and an interest in how ideas become real.
I do not want a professional label to become a restriction.
There is value in developing a clear identity and a particular area of expertise. However, there is also a danger in believing that a role established many years ago must determine every future decision.
The idea of the “possible self” allows for continuity without rigidity.
I do not need to abandon what I have built in order to develop. However, I do need to remain open to work that may not fit neatly into the description people already have of me.
That openness also requires discipline. Curiosity cannot mean pursuing every possible direction.
The challenge is to remain open without becoming scattered.
Bring the right ideas into the world
Ideas matter, but execution is part of creativity.
Writing a tune is only one stage. Musicians must be selected, arrangements completed, sessions organised, performances recorded, mixes finished, artwork created and the release communicated.
The organisational work is not separate from creativity. It is part of turning an internal idea into something another person can hear, experience or use.
Redtenbacher’s Funkestra, Masterlink Sessions and RSB Records all depend on sustained execution rather than inspiration alone.
At the same time, not every idea needs to become a finished release.
The streaming environment can encourage constant output, but activity is not automatically progress. Completing more projects does not necessarily strengthen the overall body of work.
The future emphasis should therefore be less about producing more and more about identifying which ideas deserve the time, attention and resources required to complete them properly.
Evolve the form without abandoning the purpose
The Funkestra has changed considerably since its beginnings in 1995.
It has existed as a student ensemble, a large London band, a trio-based group and a broader international collective.
Personnel, production methods, release formats and working structures have all evolved.
The central purpose has remained more consistent: to create original music built around groove, composition, rhythm-section interplay, horn writing, improvisation and the character of distinctive musicians.
Change is necessary, but change for its own sake can become another form of distraction.
Equally, preserving a structure merely because it is familiar can prevent the work from developing.
The form should remain flexible enough to respond to reality. The purpose should remain clear enough to provide continuity.
Give credit widely and specifically
Substantial work is rarely the product of one person.
Musicians, engineers, producers, arrangers, photographers, designers, filmmakers, promoters, administrators and supporters all affect the outcome.
I believe those contributions should be acknowledged clearly and specifically.
This is not simply a matter of politeness. It is an accurate account of how the work was made.
It is easy to remember the most visible participants and overlook people whose contribution took place earlier, later or behind the scenes.
Crediting others should therefore be part of the project from the beginning rather than an afterthought added at the end.
Build on trust without closing the circle
Many of the strongest projects I have been involved in have grown from long-term creative relationships.
Trust allows people to move beyond the minimum requirements of a task. It allows disagreement without immediate defensiveness and experimentation without constant explanation.
I value collaborators who understand the wider purpose but still bring independent judgement to the work.
I am not looking for people who simply confirm what I already think. The relationship becomes valuable when their contribution can improve, redirect or challenge the outcome.
However, trust must not become dependency or a reason to avoid new voices.
Long-standing relationships should provide a foundation, not a closed circle. New collaborators can introduce different experience, methods and perspectives that established teams may no longer see.
Question the work honestly, but recognise when it succeeds
Self-criticism has always been part of my working process.
I hear details I would now change, production decisions I might approach differently and performances that could have been stronger.
That scrutiny can support development. It can also become inaccurate.
There is little value in completing substantial work and then refusing to acknowledge that anything within it succeeded.
False modesty can be as misleading as exaggerated self-praise.
A useful assessment should recognise strengths as clearly as limitations.
Pride does not have to mean self-importance. It can simply mean accepting that sustained effort, collaboration and judgement have produced something worthwhile.
Do not let competence become a cage
Experience creates fluency. It also creates habits.
It is easy to return to musical vocabulary, production methods and working structures that are already reliable. They reduce risk and generally produce competent results.
That competence can become restrictive when it removes the need to explore.
I want to continue entering musical and creative territory in which the outcome is not completely predictable.
That may involve unfamiliar compositional approaches, new collaborators, different production methods or situations in which established strengths are no longer enough.
Growth can require a temporary reduction in fluency. New work may initially appear less polished because the language has not yet become familiar.
However, constant disruption is not the same as development. Some abilities should be deepened rather than discarded.
The question is not whether something is familiar. It is whether familiarity is still serving the work.
Expect commitment, but understand the person
I value preparation, punctuality, professionalism and a constructive attitude.
At the same time, musicians and collaborators are not simply components in somebody else’s project.
They have families, financial pressures, health concerns, competing work and ambitions of their own.
A concert or recording that occupies the centre of my attention may be one commitment among many for another person.
Leadership therefore requires both standards and perspective.
Empathy should not mean accepting avoidable unprofessional behaviour indefinitely. Equally, standards should not be enforced without regard for the reality in which people are working.
Understanding the person and expecting professionalism are not opposites.
Freedom grows from understanding limitation
I am interested in artistic freedom: freedom from familiar habits, restrictive labels, convention and the need for approval.
However, freedom does not mean pretending that limitations do not exist.
We work within our abilities, circumstances, responsibilities, finances, available time and human nature.
Some boundaries can be expanded through work. Others may need to be accepted or incorporated into the process.
Recognising a limitation can be more useful than denying it. It allows me to decide whether the boundary should be challenged, accommodated or used creatively.
Freedom without structure can become drift. Structure without freedom can become stagnation.
Creative work exists somewhere between the two.
Meet the person before evaluating the résumé
Professional credits provide useful context, but they do not reveal the whole person.
Questions such as “Who have you played with?” or “What do you do?” can quickly reduce someone to status, occupation or association.
I am more interested in what people care about, what they are trying to create and how they think.
This does not mean ignoring experience. Skill, reliability and professional history matter when selecting collaborators or assigning responsibility.
However, they should not become the only measures of value.
A person is more than a function, and a creative relationship is more than a transaction between résumés.
Take the work seriously without taking myself too seriously
I care deeply about musical quality, preparation and professional standards.
However, serious work does not need to be solemn.
Humour, strange titles, unexpected images and playful ideas are part of the creative process.
Frank Le Funk Maus, the Funk Flamingo and titles such as “Lamb of Funk”, "Music To Swing Your Manbag To" are not distractions from disciplined work. They help prevent the project from becoming self-important.
There is a useful distinction between respecting the craft and protecting one’s own image.
The work deserves care. My public persona does not need to be treated as something fragile or sacred.
Playfulness is not a reduction in standards. It is often what keeps sustained work human.
What needs recalibrating?
Having compared these principles with the work, I do not feel that any needs to be discarded completely.
Several, however, require continued adjustment.
Collaboration must not become self-erasure.
The collective result matters, but direction, authorship and ownership must remain clear.
Substance over hype must not become silence.
The work should be communicated confidently and made easy to discover.
Openness must not become fragmentation.
Curiosity requires selection and focus.
Execution must not become constant output.
Completing work matters, but not every idea needs to be released.
Trust must not become a closed circle.
Long-standing relationships should provide a foundation, not a barrier to new voices.
Self-criticism must not cancel achievement.
Honest assessment includes recognising what has worked.
Empathy must not remove standards.
Understanding people and expecting professionalism are not opposites.
Freedom must not become a lack of structure.
Commitments and limitations can give creative freedom a useful shape.
A practical compass for future work
The purpose of this exercise is not to produce a polished description of myself.
It is to create a practical reference point for future decisions.
When considering a new project, collaboration, advisory role or commitment, I want to ask:
-Does this strengthen the wider body of work, or merely add more activity?
-Does it create a meaningful connection, or dilute the existing purpose?
-Is the objective clear enough for the people involved to make good decisions?
-Are expectations, responsibilities and contributions being communicated properly?
-Are the people involved being treated fairly and credited accurately?
-Am I supporting the work confidently without exaggerating what it is?
-Does this move me towards a useful future direction, or simply repeat a familiar version of the past?
These principles extend beyond running a band.
They influence how I approach production, education, project reviews, creative development, temporary leadership and advisory work: understand the purpose, connect the right people, communicate expectations clearly, recognise contributions and strengthen the whole rather than simply adding more activity.
My central working philosophy remains closely connected to the function of the bass:
Support the music. Connect the elements. Strengthen the whole.
The objective is not to preserve these principles unchanged.
It is to use them consciously, test them against the work and allow them to evolve as the next chapter takes shape.